| Erle Loran | |
| Birth Date: | October 2, 1905 |
| Birth Place: | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Death Date: | May 13, 1999 |
| Death Place: | Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Education: | University of Minnesota Minneapolis College of Art and Design |
| Occupation: | Painter, art historian |
| Spouse: | Ruth Schorer |
| Relatives: | Suki Schorer (stepdaughter) |
Erle Loran (October 2, 1905 – May 13, 1999) was an American painter and art historian. He was a professor of art at the University of California, Berkeley from 1937 to 1981, and the author of a book about French painter Paul Cézanne. His own paintings are held in museums in California and New York.
Loran was born on October 2, 1905, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[1] He attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1926.[1] [2] In 1926, he was awarded the Chaloner Foundation Scholarship to study in Europe for the next four years.[2] He studied the artwork of French painter Paul Cézanne, and he lived in Cézanne's studio in Aix-en-Provence.[1] [3]
Loran returned to Minnesota due to tuberculosis,[3] and he became a painter in his own right. He was painted landscapes and portraits, and he won the Grand Sweepstakes Prize at the 1934 Minnesota State Fair.[4] Loran was also an arts educator. He was a professor of art at the University of California, Berkeley from 1937 to 1981.[2] Loran was a leader of the "Berkeley School," a group of his colleagues who, following Cezanne, "placed greater emphasis on linear and textural qualities, flat planes of color, and shallow “picture box” treatment of space." He authored Cézanne's Composition, a 1943 book in which he compared Cézanne's paintings to what he saw in Provence.[5] At his retirement, Loran was awarded the University Citation for his contributions. His students included Sam Francis, Ynez Johnston, Jay DeFeo, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and Robert Colescott. Loran was also a collector of Mexican and African art from the Pre-Columbian era.[3] [6]
In 1940, Loran was one of 20 artists who provided prints for the San Francisco Chronicle's efforts to provide original works of art by Western artists to the public. They sold for $2 each.[7] His "San Francisco Bay," a Cezanne-like rendering that includes a freighter on the water and Alcatraz in the background, is included in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art,[8] and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[9]
Loran married Clyta Sisson on May 8, 1937. Clyta died of cancer in March 1982. Loran later married Ruth Schorer,[3] whose first husband was art critic Mark Schorer and daughter was ballet dancer Suki Schorer.[10] Loran died on May 13, 1999, in Berkeley, California, at 93.[1] [3] His work is at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[11] the Oakland Museum of California,[12] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.[13] His art collection was acquired by the de Young Museum in 2008.[6] His widow died in 2010.[10]