Meyer Straus

Bavaria-born artist Meyer Straus emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1848. After living and working as a scene painter in the Midwest for nearly a decade, he was active in Mobile, New Orleans, and other parts of the South during the American Civil War. Between 1869 and 1872, he was a scene painter for major productions at the Academy of Music in New Orleans. It was during this time that he produced an impressive series of canvas paintings that transform quiet Bayou scenes into majestic tableaux. Drawing from his work in theatre productions, his emphasis on the contrasts in light and shadows of this landscape in addition to his romantic depiction of its foliage and water quickly became popular among wealthy patrons. Despite settling in San Francisco in 1875, his work continued to be exhibited and sold in New Orleans with the support of a significant collector base in the following decades. As a result, Straus is acknowledged as a major contributor to the early development of landscape painting in the region.

His works are in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, California Historical Society, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia, Nevada Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, Society of California Pioneers, and Louisiana State Museum.