Loring W. Coleman: Living and Painting in a Changing New England- An Autobiography Loring W. Coleman, NA AWS

Loring Coleman’s voice as a storyteller is full of his humor and sense of wonder as he tells us about his life and then gives us the tales behind the beauty and mystery of over 50 of his paintings, most of which are reflections of a disappearing life in New England.

He begins by describing the moment when his eyesight failed, and he learned that after seven decades as an artist, he might never paint again. His creation of this book became his response.

With spirited memories of the intriguing characters who affected his life, Loring describes his upbringing in the tough Chicago of the 1930s, his discovery of idyllic rivers in Concord, Massachusetts, and his adventures as a motorcyclist and young student of great art
teachers. He tells of marrying his wife Katinka the day before Pearl Harbor, entering the military, and quickly finding himself commanding the U.S. Army’s largest World War II art department. He then traces his energetic years as a teacher, traveling art historian, and lover of Bavaria and Austria.

In the context of his rich personal life, Loring shows us his paintings, as he reveals the many amusing, exasperating, and provocative experiences surrounding the artistic choices he made as he became one of New England’s most revered artists.