Louis Otto Jurgensen (1863 - 1903)
Louis Jurgensen was born in 1863 in Foehr, Schleswig, Germany.
He was a painter in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was the director of the St. Paul School of Fine Arts. He also lived in Chicago, Illinois, Clinton, Iowa, and Germany. He was trained by Jules Lefevbre, Boulanger, Benjamin Constant, and the Julian Academy in Paris. During 1885-86, Jurgensen was an instructor in drawing and painting at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. He exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Jurgensen passed away on September 19, 1903, at the age of 40. An unverified story is that he died of lead poisoning from twirling the paintbrush in his mouth, allowing too much lead to get into his system. He is buried in Clinton, Iowa.