About Me
- Louis Briel / Portrait Painter
- Richmond VA, Los Angeles CA, United States
- A Native Virginian, Louis Briel has achieved international recognition as an American portraitist. Schooled in the Classics, he refined his painting style while earning degrees from Hampden-Sydney College as first-honor graduate and Harvard University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. His art training includes a certificate from the American Academy in Rome and study in Boston with Ann Tabachnick and Morton Sacks. The Smithsonian Institution In 1993 acquired Briel’s portrait of tennis great Arthur Ashe for the National Portrait Gallery. In 1995 the U. S. House of Representatives added his portrait of Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Chairman of the Commerce Committee, to its Collection. Briel’s haunting portrait of Princess Diana accompanied Elton John on his 1997-98 World Tour and is now part of the singer’s personal collection. It is featured in the new book, “Diana in Art”, compiled by Mem Mehmet (Chaucer Press 2007). Most recently, Briel has worked with Carol Burnett on a posthumous portrait of her daughter Carrie Hamilton, which hangs in the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse.
