LOUIS J. HEITMULLER (AMERICAN 1863 – 1933)(  aka  L. Heitmuller,  Louis (Ludwig) Heitmuller  )

Louis Heitmuller, a portraitist and landscapist, was born at Klein Palubin in Poland in 1863. He studied at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dusseldorf, Germany, Ecole des Beaux-arts du Genevois (Geneva, Switzerland), with additional studies in Munich and Paris. Heitmuller was well-travelled, not only throughout Europe, but spent an appreciable amount of his time painting in Algiers, Africa, Brazil, and South America. During his time in Africa, he painted a series of landscapes and portraits depicting the native peoples and their surroundings. In 1893, Heitmuller established himself in the North Side, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he exhibited in the First International at the Carnegie Art Gallery (Pittsburgh). He became prominent in Pittsburgh art circles and is included in Falk’s Who was Who in American Art. Most of his portrait work was done while he was living in Germany, while landscapes became his forte while in Pittsburgh. During the last ten years of his life, Heitmuller was painting Biblical scenes for Pittsburgh Churches.