Louis Sloan: A portrait of the artist

LOUIS B. SLOAN - the late landscape painter, assistant dean and painting conservator - was widely known for his kindness, gentle manner and generosity in the Philadelphia fine-arts community.

As a mentor and instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he taught from 1962-1997, Sloan inspired students, discreetly found art supplies for those who had none, explained painterly techniques and maintained friendships long after graduation.

"He's an outstanding landscape painter," much better than those in California or New Hope, said acclaimed painter Elizabeth Osbourne, a year behind Sloan as a student at PAFA, where she joined him on the faculty.

"You look at a landscape and remember it," she added. "He was so personal. He had all the technical skills. As a conservator, he knew all the right materials. Painting was No. 1, that's all he cared about. That's what I loved about him."

Although his work sold for more than $20,000 a painting, "Lou didn't promote himself," she added. "He was undervalued not only in price, but as an artist."

Sloan's paintings have "a sense of place, time and tone," said curator Lewis Tanner Moore. "You can tell the temperature of the day. He captures a real sense of the particular."

Well-known landscape painter James Brantley described Sloan's work as "historical, collectible and already in art books. When you see his work, you want to see more. In terms of importance, he will be collected."

One of 13 children born and raised in West Philadelphia, Sloan was first taught art by his eldest brother, Beauford Sloan. A child prodigy, his talent was recognized by his sixth-grade teacher, the late Mrs. Cordelia McKrantz, who gave him his first set of oil paints, and by the late artist Jack Bookbinder, then head of the Philadelphia School District's art program.

Bookbinder encouraged Sloan to study at Fleisher Art Memorial, a free art school in South Philadelphia, and enlisted the 11-year-old to model for him as he played the harmonica, resulting in a 1946 lithograph, "The Spiritual."

By age 14, Sloan sold his first painting, and later won a four-year City Council scholarship to PAFA, after graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School.

At PAFA, he was taught by legendary artists Francis Speight, Hobson Pitman, Daniel Garber, Walter Stuempfig and Julius Bloch. He became lifelong friends with fellow students Ray Saunders, Elizabeth Osbourne and Daniel Miller, all of whom became PAFA instructors.

At his 1956 graduation from the Academy, Sloan won the prestigious J. Henry Scheidt Travel Scholarship and traveled through Europe with Ray Saunders, who won the Cresson Travel Scholarship.

During the turbulent civil-rights era in the 1960s, Sloan mentored young African-American students, including Moe Brooker, Barkley Hendricks, Brantley and others.

Also in the early '60s, Sloan became an assistant conservator of paintings to the late Theodor "Ted" Siegl at PAFA, and later joined Siegl at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Among the works the two repaired was "The Gross Clinic," an 1875 oil painting by Thomas Eakins, who once headed PAFA.

"He was very well-respected and a very important part of the museum," said Suzanne Penn, conservator of paintings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Sloan also won numerous awards, including the Sesnan Gold medal, the Lambert Prize, Woodrow Prize, Tiffany Grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the PAFA Distinguished Faculty Award. Mayor Nutter and City Council also issued tributes to him.