Image 1

Louis O. Lussier

Almon George Danforth, 1864

oil on canvas

Gift of the Eugene E. Horton Family in memory of Dorothy Danforth Horton Tod 2007.10

Image 2

Louis O. Lussier/h5>

George Chester Danforth, 1864

oil on canvas

Gift of Helen and David Welch 2004.26

Image 3

Louis O. Lussier

Perry and Omi Frazer, circa 1865

oil on canvas

Gift of Merle and Barbara Glick 2003.16

Image 4

Louis O. Lussier

Abraham Lincoln, undated

oil on canvas

Museum Purchase 2007.5

Born in Canada on October 22, 1832, Louis Lussier immigrated to the United States as a young man, settling in Will County, Illinois in the 1850s. Following the Civil War, he lived in Peoria and then Chicago.

In Peoria, Lussier maintained a studio on Main Street. In 1864, his portrait painting of Senator Stephen Douglas received critical acclaim, and Lussier received commissions from many affluent local families to paint portraits of their entire households. To accomplish this, he probably lived with his clients while he worked on their portraits (Image 1).

Lussier traveled to other central Illinois towns to paint portraits, including Pekin and Metamora. While he was the only known painter active in the area during the 1860s, he still experienced intense competition from the many photography studios in Peoria, who boasted of a quicker, more progressive technique.

In 1870, Lussier moved his family to Chicago, where records indicate he opened a studio on Washington Street. Four years later, they moved to the San Francisco, California area, where Lussier studied at the School of Design. He enjoyed great success, becoming known as one of California’s outstanding portraitists, and many of his paintings from that period are now owned by California museums. Lussier died of meningitis in 1884.

(Image 2 and 3) Lussier lavished more attention and creativity on his portraits of children than he did on portraits of adults. Although their features appear somewhat awkward, the younger subjects usually wear fancier clothes and were shown in full figures. Lussier usually placed them within settings, giving the portraits more life than the bust-length portraits of adults against obscure, dark backgrounds.

(Image 4) It is unknown why or when Lussier painted this portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The artist produced four portraits of Lincoln’s political rival, Stephen Douglas, to critical acclaim.

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