F. Luis Mora
CARD SHARKS TANGLE
Oil on canvas
18 x 14 in
45.7 x 35.6 cm
Available at Surovek Gallery
A portrait of President Warren G. Harding, done by F. Luis Mora (1874 – 1940) hangs in the White House.
Mora was born in Uruguay. His family left the country during an insurgency in 1877 and settled in New Jersey.
His father was a noted sculptor who saw his son’s potential and encouraged him to pursue a career as an artist.
Mora studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Art Students League in New York. On a trip to Madrid with his mother in 1896, Mora visited the Museo del Prado where, serendipitously, he ran into American artist William Merritt Chase. During the same trip, Mora became inspired by the works of Diego Velázquez and other Spanish Old Masters.
His painting, Card Sharks Tangle, available at Surovek Gallery, is a reflection of the influence that both William Merritt Chase and the Old Masters had on his works.
Mora taught art at William Merritt Chase's Chase School of Art (which later became Parsons) and at the Art Students League (where one of his students was Georgia O’Keeffe).
He also had a successful career as an illustrator, producing work for outstanding magazines like Harper's Weekly, Scribner's, The Century, Collier's, Sunday Magazine, and Ladies' Home Journal.
During World War I, Mora was one of several illustrators who volunteered to create motivational World War I posters for the U.S. Committee on Public Information.
Mora was also a highly sought-after muralist. He was commissioned to paint murals for the Missouri State Building at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Governor's Mansion of New Jersey, the Red Cross, The Town Club and Bar in Manhattan and the Sears family (Sears & Roebuck) country home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
His works are in the permanent collection of The Met, The Smithsonian, The New York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York and many other major museums.
Please contact us if you would like more information about the work of F. Luis Mora available at Surovek Gallery.
References:
Jim Shulman. Boys & Girls Club mural has inspired young people in Pittsfield for nearly 100 years. It was painted by a respected artist. The Berkshire Eagle. April 26, 2024.
The New York Times. F. Luis Mora, 65, A Noted Painter. June 6, 1940.
