'L'Apôtre des Montagnes Rocheuses' (Grand Coeur#17, 1946).
Joseph Louis was a Belgian painter, and professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. Early in his career, under the name Jo Louis, he was an artist working for the short-lived Belgian comic weekly Grand Coeur, drawing the serial 'L'Apôtre des Montagnes Rocheuses' (1945-1946).
Early life and career
Joseph Louis was born in Liège in 1924. He was a student at the city's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where one of his teachers was Charles Gilbert. In the 1940s, he joined Gilbert's Atelier des Arts Graphiques, a studio set up to produce artwork for magazines and advertisements. In the years 1945 and 1946, his signature of "Jo Louis" or "J. Louis" appeared in the pages of Grand Coeur, a short-lived comic magazine created by Charles Gilbert and Étienne Lamarche, publisher of the newspaper La Gazette de Liège. A large part of the material in Grand Coeur was provided by magazine editor Charles Gilbert and students from his graphic arts atelier in Liège. These can be recognized by the signatures that are associated with this studio, such as Chargil, Imagil, At-Gil, CAAG and Mac K.B.
L'Apôtre des Montagnes Rocheuses
In the first issue of Grand Coeur of 20 December 1945, Jo Louis's text comic serial 'L'Apôtre des Montagnes Rocheuses' kicked off, continuing until 13 June 1946. The tale starts with a ploy of the "Flathead" Native Americans to massacre their neighbors, the Blackfeet, after feeding them "fire water" (whiskey). In true edifying spirit, the local Catholic priests, the "Black Robes", send the missionary Father Pieter-Jan De Smet (1801-1873) to the Native Americans to introduce the natives to the true belief in the "Great Spirit".
Later life
Later in life, Joseph Louis was a painter, as well as a professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. He eventually became the director of the academy. Joseph Louis died in 2011 at the age of 87.
'L'Apôtre des Montagnes Rocheuses' (Grand Coeur#17, 1946).