“Nicolai Fechin (left) congratulating Albert Londraville (right) on winning a 1^st Place Award”

Albert Joseph Londraville (December 31, 1922 – June 17, 2015)

Albert Joseph Londraville was an American portrait and landscape painter.

Contents

• Early life
• Education
• Professional life
• Memberships
• Awards and shows
• References

Early Life

Albert Londraville was born in Los Angeles, California on December 31, 1922.  He attended elementary and high school in Los Angeles. During World War II, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and was stationed in Alaska.

Education

After the war, Albert returned to Los Angeles and began his formal study of art. In the early 1950’s, he studied under Nicolai Fechin, a Russian artist whose work Albert greatly admired. At the time, Nicolai Fechin had a studio in Santa Monica.  Under his tutelage, Albert won the 1^st Place John F. and Anna Lee Stacy Award.  A photo from 1953 shows Nicolai Fechin congratulating his student for his achievement. (1)  But on October 5, 1955, the Russian Master, Nicolai Fechin unexpectedly died in his sleep at age 74.  The 9-student art class was shocked and completely unprepared for it. (2)  Three of his students, Albert Londraville, Joseph Nordmann and Hal Reed, all of whom were strongly influenced by their teacher, remained life-long friends and each became a recognized professional artist.

Albert always thought of Fechin as his teacher and mentor. He followed in Fechin’s footsteps as he created charcoal portrait drawings and dry brush oil portraits.  Albert participated in art workshops where he had a chance to sketch and draw from live models as he did in Fechin’s classes, to continue to develop his craftsmanship. Many drawings and sketches remain from this period and show how he matured as an artist. Albert studied art at the “Lukits’ Academy of Fine Art” in Los Angeles, California. He also attended the Los Angeles Art County Institute and the Allied Art School in Glendale, California.  Later, he studied both Japanese Sumi-e and Chinese (Brush) Painting & Philosophy. (3)

Professional Life

Albert became a scenic artist in the motion picture industry, working for MGM under George Gibson, head of the scenic art department, as well as for other studios.  He is recognized in the book “The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop” as a lead scenic artist for the backdrop work in “Shoes of the Fisherman” (1968) starring Anthony Quinn. (4)

His work as a scenic artist, however, did not prevent him from pursuing his own career as an artist. Many days after work, he drove to the Malibu Creek area and painted in the plein art style, directly from nature. He created many impressionistic oil sketches during this period. And from these sketches, he created much larger impressionistic oil paintings.

Albert’s own work covered a wide spectrum of styles and subjects.

His study of Japanese and Chinese art informed many of own works. He created his own Sumi-e brushwork and used Buddhist themes in some of his oil paintings.

Albert was fascinated by the American Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon area. He traveled to the Southwest several times, taking numerous photographs and making many sketches of the area and of American Indians who lived there. Using the photographs and sketches, he created magnificent oil landscapes and portraits.

At one period, Albert became fascinated with flowers and painted realistic roses and still life’s using flowers.  He also painted many portraits, some under commissions. Others were of his wife, artist Phyllis Londraville, as well as of other people that he knew.  He painted not only people, but also cats. He always had at least two pet cats.

Albert was a prolific and accomplished painter as was his wife, Phyliss Londraville.  As seen below, Albert won many awards for his artistic achievements and exhibited in many venues including art museums in the United states.  When he died in 2015 at age 92, he left a legacy in his hundreds of paintings and charcoal drawings, as well as his lithographs and serigraphs.

 

Charcoal drawings, 18” x 24” of Native Americans by Albert Londraville (DeBord collection).  Part of a Londraville series of 50 drawings and 8 oil paintings of Native Americans

Memberships

• California Art Club
• American Academy of Chinese Culture Inc.
• Artists of the Southwest

Awards and Shows

Awards

• 1^st Place Award – National Society of Arts & Letters, Los Angeles, 1952
• Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding work – National Society of Art & Letters – Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington D.C., 1952
• 2^nd Place Award – John F. & Anna Lee Stacy Scholarship Fund, California, 1952
• 1^st Place Award – John F. & Anna Lee Stacy Scholarship Fund, California, 1953
• 2^nd and 3^rd Place Award – Painters & Sculptors Club – Los Angeles, California
• Landscape Award – Los Angeles County Museum – 1954 Annual Exhibition, California
• 1^st and 2^nd Place Award – National Veterans Art Exhibition – 8^th Annual Exhibition, Santa Monica, California, 1954
• 1^st Prize & Purchase Award – Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts – First All California Art Exhibit
• 1^st and 2^nd Prize Maurice Trophy and Cash Award – National Veterans Art Exhibition – 9^th Annual Exhibition, Santa Monica, California, 1955
• Honorable Mention – Both in Oil Painting & Pastel Categories – Santa Cruz Art Exhibition, 26^th Annual State-wide, California
• 1^st Place Award in three Categories: Drawing, Oil, & Pastel, National Veterans Art Exhibition, 10^th Annual Exhibition, Santa Monica, California, 1956
• 69^th Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition, California Art Club, 1^st Place Award in Landscape, 2^nd Place Award in Portrait and Figure, Sherman Oaks, California, 1978

Exhibited

• Los Angeles County Museum, California
• Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California
• Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington D.C.
• Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, California
• Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Massachusetts
• California State Fair & Exposition, Sacramento, California
• H. De Young Memorial Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
• Isaac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana

Invitational Shows

• Palos Verdes Art Gallery, California
• Invitational Show, Santa Monica Art Association, California
• Invitational Show, “Artists You Should Know”, Los Angeles Art Association, California
• San Pedro Art Patrons, 9^th Annual Exhibit of California Art
• Los Angeles Art Association, “Realism in Art”, California
• Los Angeles Art Association, “Landscape in Contemporary Watercolors”, California
• Los Angeles Art Association, “The Landscape in Contemporary Art” – Oils by Southland Painters, California
• 40^th National Orange Show, San Bernardino, California, 1955
• Los Angeles Fair, Pomona, California
• 27^th State-wide Annual, “Watercolor and Pastel”, California
• 34^th State-wide Annual, “Art Exhibition in Oil”, California
• California Spring Garden Show, Society of Western Artists, Oakland Art Museum, California
• 17^th Annual Contemporary Art Exhibit, Chaffey Community Art Association, 1957 “The Challenge of Art”, California
• Westside Jewish Community Center, “Guest Artists of 1957”, California, 1957
• Los Angeles Art Association, “Feitelson on Art”, Introducing Albert Londraville and Gregory Gluckman, California, 1957
• “Feitelson on Art”, “Albert Londraville, Example of Landscape Painting, with George Inness and John Twachtman”, California, 1960
• Los Angeles Art Association, “Artist Whose Work Has Been Televised on KRCA’s “Feitelson on Art”, California, 1960
• Los Angeles Art Association, “Spring”, “Portraits in Various Media”, California

One-Man Shows

• The Pasadena Art Museum in California, December 1955 to February 1956
• Glendale Public Library, California, 1956
• Los Feliz Woman’s Club, Los Angeles, California, 1958

References

1. Photo and references to the Stacy Award are included in artist Joseph Nordmann’s photo albums of Nicolai Fechin’s art classes in 1953-1955.
2. Western Art Digest, Summer 1985, “N. Fechin, a personal memory” by Joseph Nordmann
3. Information regarding Albert Londraville art education and training, awards, exhibitions and shows is found on a fact sheet affixed to back of the many paintings that Albert Londraville exhibited.
4. “The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop”, by Richard M. Isakes and Karen L. Maness in collaboration with the Art Directors Guild, 2016, ISBN 978-1-9428-7225-2

Information was also obtained from:

• Alice Goldman, Successor Trustee of Albert Londraville Trust, Los Angeles, California
• Michael DeBord, a California art collector who purchased the remainder of the Albert Londraville art collection from his estate after he died and conducted research into his life, Cameron Park, California

“…art is only a means to an end, the end is understanding”, Albert Londraville