Henry Luther Loomis began making art when he was 5 years old, carving duck decoys and birds of wood. When he received his BFA at Yale Art School, his teachers were many of the noted academic artists of the century: Abstract painter Jack Tworkov was then head of the department, and favored Loomis' work. Bernard Chaet, later Art Department chair, was his instructor for landscape and cityscape painting, and taught him the connective horizon in the painting of the diptych pair. Lester Johnson taught him portraiture. Al Held taught him the continuities of painting in series, and Richard Lytle taught him the techniques of printmaking.

 
"Garden Walk, St. Paul's School"
acrylic on canvas, sold
 
"Danish Nude "
acrylic on canvas, $350

 

Loomis reinterprets the vision of 15th century Flemish painter Petrus Chistus, the 2-dimensional story worlds
of Matisse, and the anti-gravitation of Fernand Leger. But in Mondrian, Loomis perceived the underlying resonances of Pure Geometry shown in natural life forms such as trees when they drop their leaves to reveal their structure. The open ended concepts of Abstraction he learned with George Wardlaw were to help him chart out a course through the deep waters of his own creative seas. Loomis' figures merge with landscape
in a lyrical complexity of patterns and provide an integration of Reality which could only be perceived by
a mind which has tasted and struggled with the forces which disintegrate reality.

 
"Ainsley's Deck "
acrylic on canvas, $400
 
"People Watching Television"
acrylic on canvas, $575

 

Recognition took many years to reach Loomis, but now he has won awards, and his paintings have found
their way into international collections. Subtle and potential energies in his work reveal ever newer visions, which emerge from the depths into light.

Loomis has long been an activist for creativity as a member and Treasurer of the New Haven Paint & Clay Club, and has won awards for his painting over the years. But for a number of years his career languished with little outside recognition of his ideas, while his creative explorations continued to build the body of his work. During that time his talent was recognized by writer/artist and critic Cliff Mornay, then by New York art dealer Margaret Bodell, formerly co-director of Art In Heaven Gallery in New Haven. In 1991, Bodell included him in an important group show at the East Hartford Mental Health Center, where recognition began to take its course.  Thirdly, beginning in 1995, Loomis’ work was included in the Chris Butler Group in  Branford. From these venues, Loomis’ paintings have now found their way into national and international collections. The awareness of subtle, powerful, and potential  energies continues to reveal ever newer visions which emerge from the depths into  light, and resolve into positive thought forms.

    
"Days Inn, Branford"
acrylic on canvas, $400
    
"Kids Playing"
acrylic on canvas, $750

 

     The York Square Cinema Gallery

                            October 30 - December 3, 1999

                  Curator : Johnes Ruta, (203) 387-4933

 

Return to York Square Gallery