Louis Grell

Louis Frederick Grell
Self Portrait ca 1916
Born	Ludwig Heinrich Grell, III Council Bluffs, Iowa
Died	Chicago, IL
Nationality	American
Education	School of Applied Arts Hamburg, Royal Akademie of Fine Arts, Munich, University of Munich
Known for	composition and portrait painter
Notable work	murals inside Chicago Theatre, Netherland Plaza Hotel, Northwestern Military Academy, Notre Dame de Chicago, Union Station St. Louis
Spouse(s)	Fredricka Seammers
Awards	Harry Frank prize Art Institute of Chicago 1930, Municipal Art League prize AIC 1936
Patron(s)	Charles L. Hutchison, Ruth Van Sickle Ford

Louis Frederick Grell (November 30, 1887 - November 21, 1960) was an American figure composition and portrait artist based in the Tree Studio resident artist colony in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He received his formal training in Europe from 1900 through 1915 and later became art professor at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 to 1922, and at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1922 to 1934. Grell exhibited his works throughout Europe from 1905 to 1915, in San Francisco in 1907, and in Chicago at the Art Institute 25 times from 1917 to 1941. He exhibited in New York in 1915 and 1916 and in Philadelphia and Washington DC. Primarily an allegorical and figurative composition muralist and portrait painter, his creative strokes adorn the ceilings and walls of numerous US National Historic Landmark buildings.

Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa to German emigrant meat market owners, and remained until the young age of 12, when in May 1900, his parents decided to send him to Hamburg, Germany to study art. Grell's first two years were spent refining his understanding of the German language and then it was off to a three-year study of the fundamentals of painting in Altona, Germany. Soon after, Grell was accepted to the prestigious School of Applied Arts in Hamburg, where young student Grell and Professor Switz earned commissions together to paint murals inside the famous Hamburg Boathouse (the great meeting place for all of Northern Germany), Hamburg Music Hall and elaborate paintings for the home of Germany's wealthiest man, "Budge, the Turpentine King." Grell's work at the Academy would earn him praise in 1906 at the Third German Arts & Crafts Exhibition in Dresden.

For Grell, earning top student honors of 3,000 students from 1905 to1907 at the School of Applied Arts in Hamburg meant, the Hamburg School would sponsor Grell at the Royal Academie of Fine Arts in Munich, under Franz von Struck, Carl von Marr and Angelo Jank, from 1908 through 1912 (1907, June 2. Omaha World Herald). Grell also attended the University of Munich. While in Munich, Grell was a member of the famed American Artists Club with fellow members E. Martin Hennings, Walter Ufer, Emil Frei, Victor Higgins-a total of sixteen members are photographed attending Friday evening meetings at Club Glasl in Munich. Upon completion of his formal studies in Germany, Grell traveled Europe studying at major art centers, painting and exhibiting his works throughout Europe.