Biedermann, Louis

Louis Biedermann (November 11, 1874 - July 16, 1957) was an American commercial illustrator, painter, futurist, and comic artist active in the middle part of the 20th century. Biedermann was born in New York and grew up in Brooklyn. He is was described as a large, rugged, and solid appearing man with a ruddy face and kindly eyes. As a boy, Biedermann earned money by delivering beer to thirsty construction works, a now defunct child profession known as 'rushing the can.' At 12, he took a position with Frank Leslie's Weekly, beginning his lifelong newspaper career. Biedermann did not study art formally, but nonetheless developed a unique personal style, characterized by the use of bold compelling lines, combining crosshatching and hachuring. From about 1890, Biedermann worked for the New York World, where he became known for the speed and skill of his draftsmanship. In 1900, Biedermann produced a remarkable futuristic view of New York City as it might appear in 1999. The view of lower Manhattan is filled with skyscrapers and bridges, but aside from the airships, is not far off from truth. The work garnered him great respect, with the Illinois Daily Free Press, writing,

Biedermann is panoramic. He is panoramic in his thinking. His mental and well as his optical perspective presents a complete and extended view of all directions. The breadth of his understanding is more panoramic, perhaps, than his art.

From 1922 Louis Biedermann worked as a staff assistant at King Features, filling in when other cartoonists went on vacation, inking different cartoonists work. The position speaks volumes of Biedermann's virtuosity and the ability to replicate the work of any other comic in the King Features Syndicate. He executed a series of 12 dramatic drawings of Disney characters traveling around the world in 1930 for a King Features Calendar, but it is unclear if it was ever issued. Biedermann retired from King Features in 1940 and relocated to his summer home on Shelter Island, New York, where he lived out his retirement driving what one newspaper man called 'a big powerful automobile.' He died in Greenport, Long Island in 1957.