Leah Traugott

Leah Schneider Traugott (16 January 1924, Cincinnati, Ohio – 15 January 2018, Zionsville, Indiana), also known as Leah S. Traugott, was an American award-winning watercolorist and educator. She exhibited in more than eighty one-person shows and numerous group exhibitions.

Life Leah S. Traugott was born in Cincinnati in a family of Joseph Henri Schneider and Rose Minkovsky. She graduated from Shortridge High School in 1942 and Herron School of Art in 1946. During art school and later, she worked as a freelance fashion artist for H.P. Wasson and Company. Later she completed more study at Herron under Donald Mattison, Loran Dunlop, Garo Antresian, Edmund Brucker and John Taylor.

Traugott worked as a commercial illustrator for large Indianapolis department stores and became known for her depictions of women’s shoes. Later she taught drawing and painting classes at the Indianapolis Art Center for three decades. and Dale Ellen. Leah S. Traugott died on January, 15th 2018 aged 93 and is buried at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation Cemetery South.

Art and recognition Traugott created her colorful floral paintings working mostly in oils and sometimes in pastels. The two most important factors in her work were color and design. Her favorite subject was portraits, Traugott’s artworks captured the color and vibrancy of Indiana landscapes and gardens, emphasizing fine details and a fine-tuned sense of color harmonies.

Her work was selected for national juried exhibitions, including "Century of American Watercolors" at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; "MidYear Show" at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; She also won the $500 second prize in the Indiana Artist Club exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and a merit prize at the Anderson Fine Arts Center in 1993. In addition, Traugott received awards from more than one hundred exhibitions, including the Indiana Artists Show at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; Kentucky Watercolor Society; Indiana Watercolor Society; and the Indiana Artists Club.

Traugott’s achievements are mentioned in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis.

Exhibitions

Indianapolis Art Center

Collections

Indianapolis Museum of Art