Louis Bassi Siegriest (1899-1989)
Louis Seigrist was born in Oakland, California in 1899. He studied at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco where in the 1920′s he was associated with a California Bay Area group called the Society of Six. The group, based in Oakland, focused on California scene subject matter, aggressive use of color, and a freedom of style rooted in Impressionism. Siegrist also did commercial art assignments in Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, and Milwaukee as well as for the “San Francisco Chronicle.” In the 1930′s, during the Depression, he traveled to the Mid-west and the East and his paintings took on an industrial style.
He returned to California and did poster work and advertising until in 1945 he became a full-time fine artist and from 1948 to 1951 taught at the Art Students League of San Francisco. He stopped painting due to poor eyesight in the 1970′s and died in 1989. His work is in the collections of the Oakland Museum, Stanford University Museum, and the University of Nevada. His son Lundy Siegriest followed in his fathers footsteps and became a fine artist and is now painting.