Louis James was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1920. Self-taught, he became known for his work in oils, watercolours, acrylics, and lithography. In 1949, he moved to England, immersing himself in the post-war art scene, exhibiting at the prestigious Redfern Gallery, and developing his signature abstract and symbolic style, before returning to Australia in 1964.
Artist Louis Robert James was born on 22 September 1920 in Adelaide, Australia. From a young age, he demonstrated a passion for drawing, encouraged by his father, who had an interest in black-and-white illustrations and cartoons. This early support led James to begin illustrating for local newspapers, such as the Adelaide Mail, by the age of 16. Growing up during the Great Depression, however, he was self-conscious about attending formal art classes due to his financial situation. Although he briefly attended life drawing classes at the local School of Art, James ultimately opted for a self-taught approach to developing his artistic skills. Initially focused on black-and-white illustrations, he later explored oils, watercolours, acrylics, and lithography, working on a range of surfaces, including canvas, hardboard, and masonite. Acknowledging the struggles of self-learning, James believed it pushed him to work harder and develop a distinctive style. During the Second World War, he served in the Australian army, but after being hospitalised with malaria, he returned to Adelaide, where his passion for painting led him to join the Royal South Australian Society of Artists and hold his first solo exhibition at John Martin’s Gallery in 1949.
Feeling constrained by his job and eager to pursue new artistic opportunities, James and his wife made the decision to move to London in the same year. They sold everything they owned and left for England, where James sought to immerse himself in the vibrant post-war art scene. During this time, James supported himself by working as a draftsman at the London Electricity Board and the Geological Museum in South Kensington, while also learning restoration and gilding skills over four years with a framer and decorator. His exposure to British painters, such as Francis Bacon, whose first London exhibition left a lasting impression on him, played a significant role in his artistic development. James admired Bacon's work, considering him one of the best painters of his time. James’ exposure to European modernism, along with his admiration for the historical works of William Blake and Samuel Palmer, greatly influenced his transition from figurative painting to a more abstract style. He became increasingly focused on developing his own symbolic language, incorporating faces and figures into abstract compositions. This blending of abstraction with figuration allowed James to explore deeper, more complex themes. His early work in London was marked by modernist influences, but his growing interest in symbolism reflected his desire to move beyond purely figurative art. A significant work from this period, King of the Gold Coast (1966), marked a transitional moment; inspired by James' experiences of Australia's Gold Coast, it captured the bustling, garish, and chaotic energy of the area. As he explained in a later interview with James Gleeson, the work was a reflection of urban congestion, with its ‘compacted areas filled with movement’, juxtaposed against open, empty spaces. This technique became a hallmark of his later work, as he sought to capture the liveliness and disorder of modern cities through his compositions (Gleeson 1979).
James was also fascinated by ancient cave art, particularly from his trips to the Dordogne region of France. The layered and repetitive nature of prehistoric paintings inspired him to experiment further with symbols and abstract forms. This influence is most clearly seen in The Dreamtime (1962), which incorporated faces and shapes inspired by both Aboriginal Dreamtime stories and the cave paintings he had seen in Europe. The use of abstract symbols and the integration of calligraphic elements became a recurring theme in James' later works, as he developed a unique visual language that was deeply personal yet open to interpretation. During this time James’ developed a relationship with the Redfern Gallery in Cork Street, in central London, where he held several solo exhibitions in the late 1950s and early 1960s, providing a platform for his growing reputation.
In 1964, James returned to Australia, where he continued to evolve artistically. He embraced abstraction more fully, while still drawing on the landscapes and cultural influences of his home country. His use of venetian red, a colour he associated with the Australian outback, became a recurring element within his work, and he often explored themes related to the land and the human connection to it. James exhibited widely back in Australia and became a respected figure in the country's art scene. Throughout his career, he participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, receiving several awards, including the Sulman Prize twice and the Newcastle Gallery Prize. He held a retrospective at the Bonython-Meadmore Gallery in Adelaide in 1986. Louis James died in Sydney, Australia on 18 January 1996. In the UK public domain, his work is represented in the collections of the Tate, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, and Leeds Art Gallery, among others.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Louis James ]
Publications related to [Louis James ] in the Ben Uri Library