Alain Lutz Biography

Artist's Statement

Alain Lutz was born in May 1953 in Mulhouse, France When Alain reached the age of thirteen, because his parents knew he had talent for drawing, he received his first oil painting box. He was interested in attending the Boulle Design school in Paris but Instead of going there he chose the industrial drafter carrier. He graduated his university studies with "Technicien supérieur degree" and before his military time he organized an "Expédition Hoggar 75" in the southern Sahara,and came back with a 16mm film. He loved travelling and went many times to North Africa, always starting his trips from Strasbourg driving all th way down the road, crossing Spain to reach the Northern African desert. After a few years working as a draftsman in a manufacture of cranes Company he took a year off to travel with a backpag for the first time in the United States. This first trip led him to the city of Mexico, where he decided to go back in the US to the city of New Orleans. He loved so much this town that he decided to bring back a collection of outdoor color pencils drawings of city scapes. He draw also a inside view of an Irish bar in the French Quarter. He had to go back in the bar every single day during two weeks to picture all the details on the sheet of paper ; this was in 1979. Back to France and to his previous job he decided to pursue the city scape pencil drawings and he started a collection of Strasbourg old town sights. He made his first printed limited editions. In the same time he started To practice oil paintings in his studio. During his second trip to the US in 1987 in he stayed in Boston and Started drawing the old downtown subjets. He first showed at The Ainsworth Gallery and joined as a member artist The Copley Society of Boston where he had got his first jury selected art work. Two years later, through a twin cities (Strasbourg and Boston) artist exchange program, he stayed a month in the Studio factory artist building, and worked on drawing cityscapes.He still is a member of The Copley Society of Boston. He did an exhibition at the French Library of Boston and at the City Hall Human Rights Commission of Boston , and had a pencil drawing exposed with a Joseph McGurl painting in the front windows of The Copley Society during a member artists show. He had one of his paintings published by the art publisher Pierre Hautot in Paris and also later published by The New York Society. At that time, when he discovered american painting, he focused on what he qualified an amazing of painting, The Hudson River School. He took the time to copy some of A.Bierstadt paintings he liked, to have them standing into his studio. He would have loved to paint the romantic or luministe style but he did not see any issue to it through the french art of the moment. Also the time had come for him to leave his studio painting for plein air painting. In 1989, helped by the presence of his good friend artist from Boston he experimented this standing in The Public Garden of Boston . Since that time he finally decided to paint this way and had done many paintings trips. He went more than once in America to paint out door the southwestern big opening landscapes around Santa Fe.Santa Fe became an another home for him in terms of feeling and spirit. Now Alain,happy father of two little boys,is still an industrial drafter, actually more as engineer making machineries.He will never stop painting