STUDIES
1966
Johannesburg College of Art (drawing and sculpture)
1968
Visual Art Research, Johannesburg – by invitation from George Boys
1971/2
Bronze casting at Joubert Art Foundry near Hartebeespoortdam
1986
Art Foundry, Santa Fé, New Mexico
1990/6
lived in Namibia
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I was born in South Africa and spent many hours in art galleries and museums as a child and was deeply influenced by the illustrations in Grimm's Fairy Tales. I went to the Art College in Johannesburg. Sculpture was my subject, and a lot of graphite drawing, but I never studied painting, although I've always done some. I've lived in South Africa, Rhodesia, Namibia, California, Oregon, and New Mexico.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND ABROAD
2017
Dream now, dream not, the annual Winter Solstice Exhibition, The Cape Gallery
2015
Natural Affinities, group exhibition at The Cape Gallery
1991/1994
Die Kunskamer, Cape Town - group exhibition
1988
Santa Fé Festival of Arts, Santa Fé, NM USA
Sangria de Cristo Arts Centre, Pueblo, CO USA
1977
Contemporary Art Gallery, Sandton "The first decade of sculpture by Louis le Sueur" - 13th November / 2nd December, 1977
1976
Market Art Gallery, Johannesburg (solo) - 6th September onwards
1972
Gallery 101 Hollard Street Johannesburg (included under the name of LEWIS RASEUR in Group Exhibition: Second Exhibition of Transvaal Sculptors) - 17th February, 1972
Lidchi Art Gallery, Johannesburg (solo)
Melville, Johannesburg (43, 7th Ave.) - 29th October to mid-November
1969
Gallery 101, Johannesburg (included in Group Exhibition "Top South African Artists") - 10th February, 1969
Fifteenth Transvaal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture - Johannesburg
Gallery 101, Johannesburg (solo exhibition: sculptures and drawings) - 2nd September, 1969
1971
Republic Festival Exhibition "Art/Kuns SA 1971", Cape Town
1967
Lidchi Art Gallery, Johannesburg (October) (1st solo)
1966
SA Association of Arts, Pretoria (Republic Festival Exhibition)
Lidchi Art Gallery, Johannesburg (included in group show of 8 young artists) (19th October) .
COMMISSIONS
"Man and Woman" ("Loss of our first born"), 1967-1971 - Coll. Brenthurst Gardens, Johannesburg
"Flame of Rebirth", unveiled 7th October, 1977, Mid West Mining Corporation, Sandton
"Pole Star", 1972, African Explosives & Chemical Industries - Plastics Division - Johannesburg
WORKS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Pretoria Art Museum (PELMAMA Permanent Art Collection) - Donation 2009
Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein - Donation 2006
"Grenade Head", pre-1967 bronze 3/3, exhibited Gallery 101 Johannesburg Sept. 1969
AWARDS
15th Transvaal Academy Johannesburg (Chamber of Mines Medals: Bronze), 1969
REVIEWS AND OTHER DATA
ARTLOOK Johannesburg (1) -1966 - November - Vol. 1 No. 1, p. 7 ill.
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 11 - 1967 October - Vol. 1 No. XI, p. 2 ill.
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 18 - 1968 May - Vol. 2 No. 6, p. 12 ill.
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 28 - 1969 March - p. 6 ill.
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 29 - 1969 April - p. 4
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 34 - 1969 September - p. 20/21 ill.
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg - 4th September, 1969
The Star, Johannesburg - 4th September, 1969
Unknown Afrikaans newspaper - September, 1969 (reviewed by Claude van Lingen)
Vaderland, Johannesburg - 9th September, 1969
DE ARTE (UNISA) No. 6 - September, 1969, p. 124
1969 Fifteenth Transvaal Academy of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture - Johannesburg, cat. 111-113a
ARTLOOK Johannesburg 60 - 1971 November - p. 29/31 ill. (as Lewis Raseur)
"Reclining torso" polyester resin and fibreglass, ill. in ARTLOOK (71) October 1972
ARTLOOK Johannesburg (71) - 1972 October - Vol. 5 No. 10, p. 28 ill. (as Lewis Raseur)
The Star, Johannesburg - 10th January, 1976 pp. 8/9 ill.
The Star, Johannesburg - 3rd September, 1976 - ill.
"Art and Artists of South Africa" (Berman) (Balkema), 1983 p. 526 - listed under "Professional exhibitors: Sculptors" as Raseur, Lewis (Le Sueur), also on p. 516
"The Dictionary of South African Painters and Sculptors including Namibia" (Ogilvie / Graff) (Everard Read), 1988 – ISBN 0 620 12663 9 – listed on p. 376
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Artist: LOUIS LE SUEUR
Title: Mermaid
Size: 18 x 18 x 13 cm
Media: Bronze
Price: R 18 000
Among the isles of the Outer Hebrides, two hours’ ferry ride from Skye on the West Coast of Scotland is the Isle of Benbecula. On the Western Coast stands Nunton Steadings (the old nunnery).
Some years back within living memory, some of the islanders were planting potatoes near the shore. One woman went down to the beach to wash her hands and saw a creature she didn’t recognize playing in the surf. She ran back to the field to tell the others who followed her to the spot where they all saw the same scene. The boys threw stones at it.
The following day they found the young creature dead on the beach and were going to throw it back into the sea, but the priest who had been called said that it was half human and should be buried, but not in the cemetery because she had not been baptised. So they buried her on the Machair (the grass land along the shore).
There are still a few residents who claim they were witnesses to this story, swearing that it is authentic. There is a large flat stone lying on the Machair which is thought to mark the grave.
Nunton Steadings had become a social centre with restaurants which exhibited art works and a museum. They approached Louis le Sueur to create a mermaid fountain commemorating the event to adorn the centre. Unfortunately the centre was closed and the project abandoned. The title for the proposed piece was “Venus of the Isle”. |