Leo Beaulaurier was born in Great Falls, Montana. He is said to have studied with Charles M. Russell, but this would have to have been as a teenager, since Russell died in 1926. Beaulaurier spent three years at the University of Notre Dame after which he worked at odd jobs before going to the Los Angeles Art Center in 1936. He joined his family's construction business after World War II, taking up painting full-time only in 1963. In his later years he suffered from alcoholism.PortraitSquatters' Rights
Critical Analysis
Beaulaurier's subject matter was restricted to Western themes, particularly those involving Native Americans. He felt an urgency to capture the images of famous Native Americans, fearing that they were a vanishing race of people. He specialized in portraits on black velvet, liking the high absorptivity of this fabric, which allows for exceedingly thick coats of paint. He felt that this would lend longevity to his works. For complex scenes he would construct models of clay or wax to lay out the action.
