Louis Charles Moeller American, 1855-1930

Louis Moeller's paintings represent the most complete expression of the Munich genre style of the 1870's in America, a style much admired by the leading collectors and critics of his day. His paintings depicting the interior world of Victorian ladies and gentlemen, especially lawyers, accountants, and booksellers are strongly reminiscent of the seventeenth century Dutch "little masters".

For a decade or more, Louis Charles Moeller was one of the best known and most popular of American genre painters. His work appeared in the exhibitions of the National Academy of Design in New York City, and they were acquired by a number of the leading collectors of contemporary art of the late nineteenth century. It is an aspect of American art that has been forgotten and even eclipsed in its own time by the bright, scintillating colorism of Impressionism.

In its tremendous craftsmanship and strong emphasis upon character and expression and its description of a time and way of life, Moeller's art deserves to be recalled and appreciated anew.