Luis Eades Centennial Art Exhibit
On View July 7th - 9th, 2023
Opening Reception
Saturday, July 8, 2023 from 4:00 - 8:00pm
100 years ago, Luis Eades was born in Madrid, Spain. So began his remarkable life and artistic journey that would span nine decades and touch the lives of countless people across several continents. He was gifted artist and art educator who shared his vision and his passion for art with students at the University of Texas from 1954 to 1961 and the University of Colorado from 1961 until his retirement in 1988. Although has passed away in 2014 at the age of 91, he lives on in his many unique and thought-provoking paintings which hang in museums and private collections across the country.
Luis Eades was an innovative and prolific painter. Between years of 1950 and 2010, he created over 1000 paintings in his imaginative and ever-evolving style. Many of his paintings were large and complex pieces that included a collage of highly varied imagery and blocks of color tied together harmoniously by repeating shapes and themes. As an added touch, he often included smaller colorful elements such as flowers, bits of paper, pieces of ribbon, or tubes of paint all skillfully rendered as if strategically placed onto the surface of the canvas. His style has been classified as “Abstract Expressionist”, but his highly original works go well beyond this simple classification and almost defy description. He was truly an artistic pioneer.
To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his birth, the family of Luis Eades have organized a public exhibition of his paintings to be on display at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado July 7-9. The exhibition will include paintings from a number of private collections. It will be a visual feast with more than 30 of his extraordinary paintings on display, spanning 60 years of his art career.
Please join us in celebrating the art and the life of Luis Eades.
EXHIBITION HOURS:
Friday, July 7, 2023 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Saturday, July 8, 2023 12:00pm to 8:00pm (opening reception beginning at 4:00pm)
Sunday, July 9, 2023 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Luis Eades was born in Madrid, Spain. His mother was a citizen of Spain and his father was British. He grew up in Spain until, at the age of thirteen, his family then moved to England to escape political unrest in Spain. In 1939 he entered the Hammersmith School of Art in London, England and then studied at the Bath School of Art in Bath, England for two years. In 1942 his art education was interrupted by World War II and his service in the British army for four years (two of them spent in India). After the war, he studied for one year at the Slade School of Art in London. After spending time with his family in Honduras, he became interested in mural painting and public art, and went to Mexico to study mural painting and experimental painting media at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City. He was inspired with the opportunity to study with both Diego Rivera and Clemente Orozco during his time in Mexico. In 1950 he entered the United States on a visa and completed his art education at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington Kentucky. After completing his art degree in 1952 he returned to Honduras where spent the next two years painting. During this time he was commissioned to paint a large mural depicting the history of Honduras aviation at the Toncontin Airport. In 1954, he received an offer to join the faculty at the University of Texas in Austin. After accepting the position he moved to Austin where he taught drawing and painting at the university for seven years. In 1961 he moved to Colorado where he accepted a faculty position at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He taught art there until his retirement in 1988. During his tenure at the University of Colorado he served several terms as chairman of the Art Department. He became a U.S. citizen in 1967 and resided in the United States for remainder of his life. Throughout his adult life he remained a prolific artist and touched the lives of many people through his teachings and his artwork.
The paintings of Luis Eades are in numerous collections public and private. These include:
The American Federation for the Arts, New York, NY
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Whitney Museum, New York, NY
The Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX
The Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Kaiser Permanente, Denver, CO
CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO
