Ernest Lothar

On Friday, April 12, The Art Spirit Gallery unveils a unique exhibition of work by Austrian artist Ernest Lothar (1906 – 1961), whose style is described as “a wonderful melding of Art Deco, Expressionism, pre-Columbian, and Asian influences.”

A graduate of the Vienna Academy of Arts and Crafts, Lothar worked as a freelance artist until he escaped Nazi persecution in 1938.  His journey led him to Switzerland as a refugee and then to Dominican Republic on the strict condition he remain permanently as a farmer.  Inspired by the beauty of the Caribbean people and landscape, Lothar began exploring more abstract and expressionist style.  In 1945, he was appointed Professor of Painting at the National School of Fine Arts in Ciudad Trujillo (now Santo Domingo). His fame quickly grew beyond the Dominican Republic to the United States, where he showed in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC.  In 1947, he emigrated to the United States and became a professor at Hampton Institute for Fine Art in Virginia.

The Art Spirit Gallery is privileged to share Lothar’s vast collection of paintings, drawings, and pastels with its patrons.  For the past year, the gallery has worked closely with Lothar’s stepdaughter, a resident of Post Falls, to prepare for this special exhibition.