Louis Rowell (American, 1870-1928), Melrose Mountain

Oil on Masonite, 1922, signed and dated at lower right, inscribed to the verso, presented in a period Arts & Crafts gilt frame.

Board 20 x 16 in.; Frame dimensions 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 in.

Private Collection, Saluda, North Carolina
Brunk Auctions, January 17, 2015, Lot 521
Private Collection, Raleigh, North Carolina

Exhibited:
The Upstairs Gallery, Tryon Artists 1892-1942: The First Fifty Years, May 18 - June 23, 2001, Tryon, North Carolina

Literature:
McCue, Michael, Tryon Artists: 1892-1942, Condar Company, Columbus, North Carolina, 2001, illustrated

Louis Rowell was an American landscape painter, originally from Vineland, New Jersey, who spent the majority of his adult life in Tryon, North Carolina—where he became known as the Blue Ridge Mountains’ “most loving interpreter.” After moving to Tryon in his early twenties following the deaths of his parents, he developed his artistry there with little formal training, guided instead by artists such as Amelia Montague Watson, who became his chief mentor.
Rowell was a mainstay of the Tryon art colony, frequently exhibiting at local venues like the Lanier Club and the Grove Park Inn, as well as in larger Southern cities such as Atlanta and Charleston. In 1926, he held his first solo exhibition in New York at Denks Gallery, which was met with both critical and commercial success. However, despite his increasing reputation, persistent struggles with alcoholism and declining mental health took their toll. Rowell spent his final years in and out of Asheville’s sanatorium, where he died in August 1928 from “exhaustion from mania.”

Minor chipping to frame; otherwise in very good estate condition.