​ABOUT THE ARTIST

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Louis J. Delsarte (b. 1944-2020) is an American artist of African and French ancestry known for what critics have referred to as his “illusionist” style. He is a painter, draftsman, muralist, printmaker, and poet. While growing up in New York City, Delsarte was surrounded by music including jazz, opera, musicals, and the blues. His parents were friends with artists and entertainers from the Harlem Renaissance like Lena Horne, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes. These influences along with his knowledge and interest in African American history and world culture have served as an inspiration for his art.
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Delsarte attended Wingate high school in Brooklyn, NY, earned his Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts at New York’s Pratt Institute, and obtained a Masters Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. Delsarte also received certification in Fine Arts Education from Brooklyn College in New York City. During his formative years, he attended art classes at the Brooklyn Museum and the Hans Hoffman School of Art. Delsarte has taught painting and drawing at numerous colleges and universities over the past 42 years. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in Arts and Humanities at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Delsarte’s career as an artist for the past 50 years has complemented his career as an educator.



Delsarte’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries throughout the United States including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, the California African-American Museum, the Camille Hanks Cosby Museum at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Delsarte’s work is in numerous public collections including the Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta and the National Gallery of Art in Bermuda.



Delsarte has been commissioned to complete several important mural projects. In January 2010, Delsarte’s mural, Dreams, Visions and Change, The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Mural was dedicated at Peace Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia. The 129 ft. mural, commissioned by the city of Atlanta celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.