Jonas Lie

Jonas Lie (April 29, 1880 - January 18, 1940) was a Norwegian-born American painter and teacher. Lie is best known for his Expressionist paintings of the New England coastline and New York City. He documented construction of the Panama Canal with thirty canvases, and represented the United States in the 1928 Summer Olympics art competition. Background Lie was born in Moss, in Østfold county, Norway. His father Sverre Lie (1841–1892) was a Norwegian civil engineer and his mother Helen Augusta Steele (1853–1906) was an American from Hartford, Connecticut. He was named for his father's cousin (and brother-in-law), the famous Norwegian author Jonas Lie, who had married his father's sister Thomasine. Following his father's death in 1892, 12-year-old Lie was sent to live with Thomasine and Jonas Lie in Paris. His aunt and uncle's home was a meeting place for famous artists such as Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Edvard Grieg, and Georg Brandes. He had already received drawing instruction from Christian Skredsvig in Norway, and Lie attended a small private art school in Paris. The following year he traveled to the United States, where he joined his mother and sisters in New York City. From 1897–1906, he trained at the Art Students League of New York.