H. Louis Freund

Harry Louis Freund was a well-known muralist, painter, illustrator and educator. He was born on September 16, 1905, in Clinton, Missouri. His mother was an artist who made copies of paintings, and his uncle painted miniature portraits. This provided a creative environment for him to pursue art.

After graduating from Clinton High School, Freund studied art at the University of Missouri from 1923 to 1925 with John Ankeney. He then transferred to the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University in 1925 and studied with Fred Carpenter. He graduated from there in 1929. After graduating, he was awarded the Edmund H. Wuerpel foreign travel scholarship. As a part of this scholarship, Freund went to Paris and attended the Académie Colarossi and Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He also studied under Gustav Frederick Goetsch, Henri Morisset, and Morey. After he returned to the U.S. he worked as an illustrator for a New York publishing house for two years.

Freund returned to Missouri in the early 1930s and entered competitions for mural commissions. He painted several murals in Missouri, Arkansas, and neighboring states. In 1933 he designed a mural for the State of Missouri exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair. He also painted several murals for the U.S. Treasury, Section of Fine Arts program in the 1930s.

Freund completed the following murals for U.S. Post Offices: Wheat Farming and Chicken Hatcheries (Clinton, Missouri, 1936), Arrival of the First Train in Herington - 1885 (Herington, Kansas, 1937), Agriculture and Varied Institutes (Windsor, Missouri, 1938), Last Home of the Choctaw Nation (Idabel, Oklahoma, 1940), From Timber to Architecture (Heber Springs, Arkansas, 1939), and Early Days and First Post Office in Pocahontas (Pocahontas, Arkansas, 1939).

While working for the Works Progress Administration, Freund traveled around the Ozarks in his Model T Ford, painting and capturing life in the Ozarks. He was also a freelance illustrator for Crowell Publishing and Ford Motor Company.

H. Louis Freund  met Elsie Bates in 1936, and they married on July 6, 1939. In 1941, Elsie and H. Louis Freund founded the Art School of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and had a major role in bringing the arts there. At their school, which was inside Hatchet Hall, the former home of temperance advocate Carrie Nation, H. Louis taught painting and Elsie taught design and weaving. They ran the school until 1951.

In 1938, Freund was appointed artist in residence at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and was the head of the art department from 1941-1946. At the same time in 1940, he founded the art department at the Little Rock Junior College, now the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and was the artist-in-residence there until 1942.

In 1940, Freund received a Carnegie Fellowship and attended Princeton University from 1940-1941. During World War II, H. Louis  served in the U.S. Army as a visual aids director for the 8th Service Command from 1943-1945, painting murals to educate recruits about Army training. After World War II, H. Louis and Elsie took classes at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center from 1946 to 1947.

In 1949, H. Louis and Elsie moved to Deland, Florida, where Louis taught at Stetson University. He received a Carnegie-Stetson grant in 1953 and went to Mexico, and in 1959 received a Stetson University grant and went to Central America. From 1951 to 1959, H. Louis was the head of the art department.  After leaving as the head of the department, he continued as the artist-in-residence until his retirement in 1967. During this time, H. Louis and Elsie spent the winters in Florida, and the summers in Eureka Springs. After H. Louis’ retirement, the couple moved back to Eureka Springs and helped to establish the Eureka Springs Art Gallery.

H. Louis was active in artists’ organizations and served as president of the Florida Artist Group. He and his wife were also founding members of the Florida Craftsmen group, which he served as president.

H. Louis Freund died on December 22, 1999, in Little Rock, Arkansas.