Creator Record
Metadata
Name |
Orr, Louis |
Dates & places of birth and death |
Born May 19, 1876 in Hartford, Connecticut. Died 1966 in Paris, France. |
Nationality |
American |
Notes |
Louis Orr traveled extensively throughout North Carolina to view potential subjects, and he consulted informed citizens on that point. The subjects were finally chosen with Humber's aid and in 1939, Orr began the labor that was to be his first principal concern until 1951. His procedure was to visit each site, viewing it at various times of day so as to choose the fall of the light best for his purpose. Then he returned at that best time to make detailed pencil drawings of the subject. These etchings embrace the architectural slendor of North Carolina in all of its phases, which have been neglected and underestimated through the years. North Carolina possesses some of the most outstanding architectural monuments in America and Mr. Orr authenticated their credientials with the transcendency of his genius. He is a draftsman of impeccable fidelity to the minutiae of detail, recording even the slightest deviation in the angles of roofs, the exact number of sawteeth in a pediment and the elaborate ornamentation of a cornice. He is a master of luminosity, pursing lights and shadows down fluted columns, under the eaves of buildings and around the subtle edges of shrubbery and leaves. His treatment of light often displays, like a mirror, the reflected characteristics of its surroundings, as may be seen in the etching of the Playmakers Theater at Chapel Hill. He also possesses an unrivaled technique for interpreting textuture, whether it be wood, brick, or stone, especially the mellowed patina that comes with ageless beauty. It maybe said that Mr. Orr does not make a drawing of a building but a protrait and endows it with personality and enduring life. The fifty subjects which Mr. Orr etched on North Carolina not only compromise the most important work ever executed in the history of our nation on any State of the Union, but it is also a landmark of artistic genius, portraying the disciplined excellence of our taste in architecture, the refinement of our social life and the cultural heritage of our people. |
Relationships |
John Henry (father) Carolina Louise Naedele Orr (mother) J. W. Orr (grandfather) Gabrielle Chaumette (m. 1913) |
Places of residence |
Paris, France New Jersey North Carolina |
Role |
Artist |
Education |
Studied under Walter Griffin at the Hartford Art School (1903–5); Studied as a scholarship winner at the Art Students League in New York; Studied in Paris, France with J. P. Laurens |
