Louis Aston Knight

Risle at Melleville, circa 1920 Oil on Canvas by Louis Aston Knight

circa 1920

Louis Aston Knight, commonly known as an expatriate, was in fact born in Paris to American parents, his father the celebrated American painter Daniel Ridgeway Knight. Receiving early and influential instruction from his father he later studied at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefebvre and Robert Fleury (1891-1898). Knight’s exhibition debut was at the Annual Paris Salon in 1894, thrust him into an increasingly successful career over which he was awarded numerous honors. He was notably the first American painter to win the Paris Salon gold medals for two consecutive years and his work was included in such distinguished venues as the Paris World’s Fair of 1900 and in 1927 he was made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. Although he resided in Paris, Knight exhibited very frequently throughout the United States. Despite his indisputable success, Knight never found a niche in the Parisian society and bore a dislike for the traditional ateliers of Paris. He spent a great deal of his time out of Paris in a mill that he rented in Normandy, once the home of the poet Chateaubriand.