This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  A native of Germany, Louis Maurer, immigrated to America in 1851 with
his family, having trained as in mechanical drawing, anatomy,
lithography and ivory carving. He had also helped his father with
cabinet making.
Maurer took a job for eight years as a
lithographer for Currier and Ives, earning a beginning salary of five
dollars a week. He became known especially for his prints of
trotting horses, and one of his most famous series was called The Life of a Fireman.
He developed a system whereby several artists worked on a single print,
with each having their specialty. He and Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait
painted Indian and western subjects, and plagiarized their early
efforts from pictures they found in the Astor library that were done by
George Catlin and Karl Bodmer.
It was said that he was one of the last notable artists to work for Currier and Ives.
From 1872 to 1884, he had his own successful lithographic firm.
A
collector of sea shells, a flautist and a marksman, Louis Maurer began
study at age fifty at the Gotham Art School and later studied with
William Merritt Chase at the National Academy of Design.
Considering himself a painter later in his life, he made two extensive
trips West, one of them in 1885 as the guest of Buffalo Bill
Cody. On the second trip, he did numerous Rocky Mountain
paintings and animal depictions. At the age of 99, he had his
first solo exhibition, which was held in New York City.
He died in 1932 at the age of 100.
Sources include:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art |
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Illustrators
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