L. Pierre Bottemer

L. Pierre Bottemer (born Lawrence Phillip Bottemer) was a self-promoted itinerant American artist. He styled himself with the name L. Pierre Bottemer. Bottemer created oil paintings, sketches and silhouettes. He was a sketch artist at the trial of Lindbergh kidnapper Bruno Richard Hauptmann.

Bottemer was born June 5, 1891 in Canton, Ohio. Son of Leon "Leo" Bottemer and Rose A. Gaume.

Bottemer's father died in Canton in November 1896. In 1900, his mother and siblings lived together in Syracuse, New York. They returned to Canton before 1902. On June 21, 1906 the Massillon Independent newspaper reported that the day before, Bottemer, age 15, working as a clerk at the Diamond department store in Canton, was "carelessly handling" a revolver and dropped it, shooting himself in the leg. In 1910, Bottemer and his brother Curtis were both working as riveters at a (steel) stamping works in Canton.

Bottemer married at least nine times. He was first married to Blanche Gallin in Louisville, Kentucky in 1913. On February 22, 1915 he married Mattie L. Bauer in Battle Creek, Michigan. He registered for the draft during World War I from his native Canton, Ohio using his correct given name and date of birth. His draft card described him as short with a medium build, dark brown eyes and black hair. He listed his occupation as traveling salesman.

On April 19, 1917, Bottemer married Verna Berry in Kirksville, Missouri. Verna was under 18, and the marriage was by consent of her mother, Belle Berry.

In the first half of 1917 Bottemer did some maps for the city of Davenport, Iowa for which he was paid $5.80.

Bottemer was in Abilene, Kansas in August 1922. The Abilene Daily Chronicle offered a highly embellished article on Bottemer titled "L. Pierre Bottemer, French Landscape and Model Artist to Exhibit." The body of the article, "L. Pierre Bottemer, whose name is familiar to all art students and who was recently heard by several Abilene people at Clay Center during their chautauqua when he lectured on art, is at the Shockey and Landes Furniture Store exhibiting his work in one of their windows today. Bottemer is a life member of the Chicago Art Institute and has received degrees from Heidelberg, Germany Paris, France and the Chicago Art Institute in U.S.A. His chief work is portrait painting and he delights in doing animals and hunting pictures. Some of his pictures are permanently hung in the Metropolitan Art Museum and the Chicago Art Institute. Every inch an artist from his long, curly hair and loose flowing smock to his ideals of nature and life, Bottemer is allowing himself to "rough it" from California to Atlantic City, where he intends to set up permanent quarters; an automobile forms his means of travel. With his firm strong stroke he creates visions of mountains and streams and fairy like ladies while he stands in the Shockey and Landes window. This artist, who has several world famous pictures has a new and unusual idea of his mission in life, he believes that real art, genuine oil work, should be made available to such of the people that have not the money with which to buy the more expensive originals; hence he has learned to paint with speed, and this enables him to offer small works representing the oil technique at a very small price. This, however, does not mean that Bottemer is a producer of cheap works; he has one painting, "Cette Seinaine," (This Week) which now hangs in the Casino, at Monte Carlo and is valued at $10,000. In Paris, the hotel called the American-Franco, shows his "Au Revoir, Mademoiselle," a painting known to us for over thirty years." There is no evidence that Bottemer traveled outside the United States at any time, nor was associated with the Art Institute of Chicago.

On April 26, 1923, Bottemer married Sadie Mae Frederick in Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma. Bottemer's daughter, Elzena Mae Bottemer (Wasson) was born January 10, 1924. On the marriage license application, Bottemer listed his age as 28 (has was actually 31 years old) and his place of residence as Marseilles, France.

Bottemer married Florence Hordy in Cherokee, Texas on March 7, 1924.

Bottemer married Dorothy H. Bogle in Pueblo, Colorado on October 3, 1925.

It is reported that Bottemer was creating silhouettes as early as the 1930s and he is advertised as creating them at department store events as late as the 1970s.

In 1931, Bottmer lived in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1933 Bottemer was working in Charleston, West Virginia. He would create his paintings as a public show in store windows. A photo of Bottemer in the Charleston Daily Mail on August 13, 1933 is captioned, "LePierre (sic) Bottemer, mountain hiking artist and former marathon runner is plying his brush. Standing room has been at a premium. Stroke after stroke it was visible that a beautiful picture was forming; the lakes seemed to show their wetness, the flowers seemed to bloom, the trees seemed to grow, sunsets, sunrises, moonlight, stormy clouds formed in his studio window at the People's Store. Mr. Bottemer loses himself to his outside public as he sits and dreams, setting up his pictures to be. Dash after dash nature begins to show itself on a flat surface. A clever workman is this artist and he enjoys it. Winding rivers, stoney rapids, mountains, log cabins, placid lakes cooling to the eye seem as if they come out of the air and are planted there, but, this artist is back of his brush working diligently away. Miss Peggy George was chosen to be his studio hostess and Miss George probably will be the subject for his brush in her dancing costume before Mr. Bottemer's engagement in Charleston ends. Mr. Bottemer will be in the window of the People's Store all this week." The claims of mountain hiking and marathon running are some of Bottemer's embellishments to his resume.

In late July 1934 he appeared in Beckley, West Virginia. A columnist in the Beckley Post-Herald on July 17, 1934 reported, "My friend Pierre Bottemer, who is doing his landscaping in the window of the Hash Furniture company, is still drawing the largest crowds in town, regardless of the hot weather and burning sun. - Yesterday afternoon the sidewalk was packed with the local citizenry who watched with bulging eyes as Pierre deftly slapped a bit of paint here and there and formulated a mountain scene that looked so life-like it made one cool to see it. - He doesn't mind the weather, for a large electric fan in the window keeps him calm and cool, but believe me, the outside of the window is red hot. - Today and tomorrow will mark the end of his stay in Beckley, and then he is off to South Carolina and deep sea fishing before going to Chicago for some more painting. - Unless the Austrian incident again leads to war, he will probably be back in Beckley next year, but he said yesterday that he would be in the French army if called."

On July 28, 1935, Bottemer married Gladys Delmore Mays in Danville, Virginia. He gave his date of birth as 1900 and place of birth as Cleveland, Ohio on the marriage license. In 1940 he cut silhouettes and did sketches at the S.H. Heronimus Co. store in Roanoke, Virginia.

In 1942, Bottemer was divorced from Gladys in Palm Beach, Florida. "Florida Divorce Index, 1927-2001," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VKZ4-8DH : 25 December 2014), Larry P Bottemer and Gledys D Bottemer, 1942; from "Florida Divorce Index, 1927-2001," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Palm Beach, Florida, certificate 1450, volume 187, Florida Department of Health, Jacksonville.

On March 19, 1942, Bottemer married Shirley Gottlieb in Dade County, Florida. They were divorced in 1944 in Palm Beach, Florida. The divorce record lists Bottemer's name as "Larry Pierre Bottemer." "Florida Divorce Index, 1927-2001," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VKWP-C6Q : 25 December 2014), Larry Pierre Bottemer and Shirley Bottemer, 1944; from "Florida Divorce Index, 1927-2001," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Palm Beach, Florida, certificate 12830, volume 269, Florida Department of Health, Jacksonville.

Bottemer married 23 year old Dorothy Jewel King in Norfolk, Virginia on August 26, 1944. On the marriage licence Bottemer's age is listed as 36 ( he was actually 53), his birthplace as Cleveland, Ohio and that he was divorced once.

Bottemer married Helen Ann Combs on July 23, 1945 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

In 1945 Bottemer was divorced from Dorothy Jewel in Palm Beach, Florida.

On March 11, 1948 “Larry P.” Bottemer married Theresa S. Zoccano in Brooklyn, New York. An advertisment for L.S. Ayres & Co. department store in The Indianapolis Star on July 10, 1948 says, "...have your youngster's silhoutte cut, free of charge, by L. Pierre Bottemer, famous scissors artist who is here now." Bottemer was in Akron in December 1948. An advertisement in The Akron Beacon Journal on December 12, 1948 for O'Neil's department store says, "Held Over Another Week! L. Pierre Bottemer Silhouette Artist in Our Second Floor..."

Reportedly in the 1950s Bottemer lived in Laguna Beach, California where he painted from his home/studio. Only one newspaper source lists him in California, all other sources list him in Florida from the 1940s until the time of his death.

The 1954 Fort Lauderdale City Directory shows Bottemer, married to Wilma, as proprietor of the Tra-Art Galleries, residing at the Queen Star Trailer Park.

The 1955 Fort Lauderdale City Directory lists Bottemer as owner of Tra-Art Galleries, 227 S. Atlantic Avenue.

In 1959 the L. Pierre Bottemer Art Gallery was located at 853 N. Atlantic Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale. He lived at 849 N. Atlantic Avenue.

An article in the Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) of September 24, 1967 about artist Leslie Cope, refers to some of Cope’s pictures at the “Pierre Bottemer Gallery” in Laguna Beach, California.

In 1970, the L. Pierre Bottemer Art Gallery is listed at 3218 E. Atlantic Blvd. in Pompano Beach, Florida. Bottemer is living at 3201 NE 8th St., Apartment 104 in Pompano Beach.

Bottemer died February 6, 1981 in Broward County, Florida. His birth date is erroneously reported as July 1, 1912. He is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Fort Lauderdale.

References

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