Skip to main content
Louis Ritman
1889–1963
BirthplaceKamenets-Podolski, Russia
Death placeWinona, Minnesota, United States of America
BiographyLouis Ritman is best known for the vividly patterned pictures of women he painted in Giverny, France, in the early twentieth century using the divided brushstrokes and bright color of "decorative impressionism." Born into a family of Jewish weavers in Kamenets-Podolsky, Russia, Ritman immigrated to the United States with his family as a boy. While working as a sign-painter, the young Ritman studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, at the private Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Fellow Chicago artist Lawton Parker (1868–1954) encouraged Ritman to further his studies in Paris, to which he traveled in 1909.
Ritman soon was accepted into the famed École des Beaux-Arts, and two years later, in 1911, two of his paintings were included in the prestigious Salon exhibition. That year, he also visited Giverny for the first time, in the company of the older American expatriate artist Richard Miller. Ritman would summer in Giverny almost continuously until 1928. In his early years there, he worked closely with Miller, Parker, and another influential artist, Frederick Frieseke, painting the subjects that became the hallmarks of the so-called "Giverny Group": lovely young women posed clothed or nude in the sun-dappled outdoors or in brightly lit domestic interiors.
During his years in France, Ritman frequently returned to the United States, where he successfully exhibited his paintings. In 1915, Ritman’s painting began to shift under the influence of French master Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), whose emphasis on the underlying geometry of nature and on expressive brushstrokes independent of subject were seen by many of Ritman’s contemporaries as a guidepost in their efforts to move beyond the focus on purely optical phenomenon and material reality typical of impressionism as developed by artists like Claude Monet (1840–1926). Ritman began to compose his paintings with a greater concern for structure, applying paint in broad patches; in the 1920s he further abandoned impressionism and painted with a darker range of colors.
Although he would make many return visits to France, Ritman moved back to Chicago in 1929 and began three decades as an instructor of portrait and figure painting at the School of the Art Institute. Later in his career he painted landscapes and still lifes in addition to the images of the female figure that had long dominated his work, and he began working in watercolors as well as oils. Ritman won several prizes at Art Institute exhibitions and was an active exhibitor in many other American cities, especially at the National Academy of Design, to which he was elected a full member in 1950. Notwithstanding the esteem of conservative artistic colleagues, Ritman was soon forgotten by the mainstream American art world. His reputation has revived since the 1980s, however, with renewed interest in the work of early twentieth-century artists often associated with "decorative impressionism."
Ritman soon was accepted into the famed École des Beaux-Arts, and two years later, in 1911, two of his paintings were included in the prestigious Salon exhibition. That year, he also visited Giverny for the first time, in the company of the older American expatriate artist Richard Miller. Ritman would summer in Giverny almost continuously until 1928. In his early years there, he worked closely with Miller, Parker, and another influential artist, Frederick Frieseke, painting the subjects that became the hallmarks of the so-called "Giverny Group": lovely young women posed clothed or nude in the sun-dappled outdoors or in brightly lit domestic interiors.
During his years in France, Ritman frequently returned to the United States, where he successfully exhibited his paintings. In 1915, Ritman’s painting began to shift under the influence of French master Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), whose emphasis on the underlying geometry of nature and on expressive brushstrokes independent of subject were seen by many of Ritman’s contemporaries as a guidepost in their efforts to move beyond the focus on purely optical phenomenon and material reality typical of impressionism as developed by artists like Claude Monet (1840–1926). Ritman began to compose his paintings with a greater concern for structure, applying paint in broad patches; in the 1920s he further abandoned impressionism and painted with a darker range of colors.
Although he would make many return visits to France, Ritman moved back to Chicago in 1929 and began three decades as an instructor of portrait and figure painting at the School of the Art Institute. Later in his career he painted landscapes and still lifes in addition to the images of the female figure that had long dominated his work, and he began working in watercolors as well as oils. Ritman won several prizes at Art Institute exhibitions and was an active exhibitor in many other American cities, especially at the National Academy of Design, to which he was elected a full member in 1950. Notwithstanding the esteem of conservative artistic colleagues, Ritman was soon forgotten by the mainstream American art world. His reputation has revived since the 1980s, however, with renewed interest in the work of early twentieth-century artists often associated with "decorative impressionism."