Collection: Louis Glanzman

Louis Glanzman was born in 1922. Raised in the farmlands of Virginia, he is a self-educated artist and is a member of the American Portrait Society. Louis began his career at the age of sixteen as a comic book illustrator. In the 40's, he served as an illustrator on the Air Force magazine for the U.S. Air Force. During the 50's, he illustrated numerous children's books, including the popular Pippi Longstocking series. Louis is listed in Illustrators of Children's Books.

Always working as a free-lance illustrator, his paintings have appeared in Readers Digest, True, Argosey, Colliers, Boys Life, New Yorker, National Lampoon, Saturday Evening Post, etc.

His career led him for a short sojourn as a court reporter for Life magazine. The covers for Time magazine enhanced his career as a portrait painter, and he is a member of the American Portrait Society.

Louis' paintings and portraits are an integral part of many private and national collections throughout the United States. He has won awards from the Society of Illustrators, Art Directors Club, and the Salmagundi Club. His paintings are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., Tennessee State Art Museum, Nashville, Tenn., National Monument, Columbus, Ohio, United States Air Force Historical Foundation, Colorado, New York City Museum, Civil War Museum, Fredricksburg, Va., Sitka, Alaska, Ford Theater, Washington, D.C., Independence Park, Philadelphia, Pa., and Taos, New Mexico. Noted as one of America's most prolific illustrators and acclaimed portrait painters he is deeply proud of his many historical paintings. Glanzman seeks to follow the path laid by Pyle and Rockwell with much affection for Hokusai and Picasso.

As a southern born artist, Glanzman was deeply moved by the development of American jazz. He knew and painted many of the inventors and pioneers of this cultural art form. This led to his love of American history.

After a painting trip to the Far East for the Air Force Historical Foundation, he decided to travel through Europe. With his love for all people around the world, and his talent for recording them, he was commissioned to illustrate books and articles for the National Geographic Society.

As the spirit of American history was reawakened in the United States many American illustrators moved west to become western realist painters. Though Glanzman had been there often he remained behind to paint western scenes from afar. Most notable were a series of paintings for Bantam Publishers of Louis L'Amour's famous western stories. For Glanzman all of the United States was historical.

In the 60's he was commissioned to paint the Civil War for Life magazine, National Geographic Society and the Department of the Interior. During this same period he was actively involved in the unfolding history of the American Cultural Revolution and painted over eighty covers for Time magazine. Most prominent were presidents, elections of presidents, and the historical landing on the moon of Neil Armstrong. History by now became his passion. More books and articles for National Geographic on American Independence and a number of paintings commissioned by the Parks Department were executed for several museums around the United States.

Two more bi-centennial covers for Time magazine, one of George Washington, and one of Thomas Jefferson finally culminated in the painting of the Signing of the Constitution commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution to be installed in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

In 2002, his 13 portrait series of the Women of the New Testament became the basis for a book of spiritual reflections entitled Soul Sisters written by Edwina Gateley.

In 2002, his 12 portrait series of Men of the Bible became the basis for another book of spiritual reflections entitled Soul Brothers written by Richard Rohr.