Artistic Pioneers

In 1936, Louis Freund stepped into a tourist shop in Branson, Mo., and spotted a woman cutting walnuts into sections. He watched as she created jewelry with the nuts, fascinated by her use of unconventional materials.

“And he fell in love and the rest is history,” said Steve Beacham, executive director of the Museum of Eureka Springs Art. 

The woman’s name was Elsie, and three years later she and Freund were married.

As the decades progressed, they became foundational figures in the art world. In fact, they’re considered the two most important artists to ever live in Eureka Springs. The Museum of Eureka Springs Art wouldn’t exist without their influence, Beacham said. 

Louis served in World War II. He painted murals on barracks and other military sites, all the while standing firm as a conscientious objector. Louis was born a Quaker, and he was strongly opposed to violence. “He did not think war was the answer, but he also served this country,” Beacham said. “He was really brave to take that stance.”

Louis attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and Washington University in St. Louis before receiving a travel scholarship in 1929. After studying abroad in Paris and working as an artist in New York City, he returned to the South to paint murals as part of the Works Progress Administration.

Capturing a rural lifestyle that was fast disappearing, 

Louis spent months driving his Model T through the backroad communities in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas for authentic mural scenes that he could paint and send back to the treasury department  in Washington. 

Meanwhile, Elsie grew up on a game preserve and attended the Kansas City Art Institute before moving to Branson. That’s where she sold her first handcrafted jewelry, setting the scene to meet Louis and begin their life in Eureka Springs. 

The couple purchased Hatchet Hall in Eureka Springs after marrying in 1939.  The old boarding house that once belonged to the infamous hatchet-wielding temperance leader Carry Nation was in danger of demolition.

The Freunds not only saved the old home, but repurposed it as the Art School of the Ozarks  — the very first of its kind in Eureka Springs. 

“I think it was a mattress factory or something crazy when they bought it,” Beacham said of the home. “One of the rooms literally fell off the hillside into the valley below when they were remodeling.”

Throughout their years in Eureka Springs, the Freunds cultivated a community of artists. They often met with a small group of artists to “talk about art and paint together and make fun of each other’s art, but also have real serious art discussion,” said Beacham, who moved to Eureka Springs in 1979 and met the Freunds at an art show opening. 

“They were always such a sweet couple,” Beacham said. “Elsie was more open to talking to people than Louis was.”

The Freunds made their money outside of Eureka Springs; they both taught art classes at the university level, and Elsie traveled to Florida to sell her jewelry. 

She developed new techniques and materials for her jewelry, dubbing her work “Elsaramics” and becoming a pioneer of the midcentury modern jewelry movement. 

“She wanted to take something of little value and elevate it and make it precious,” Beacham said. Beacham described how Elsie Freund would source materials from Blue Moon Cave, digging up clay to make beads.

“She’d fire the beads and put broken glass on top of the bead until the glass melted,” Beacham said. 

“She hand-hammered sterling silver and mounted the beads onto those and made full necklace, earring and ring sets.”

The Freunds were key figures behind the Eureka Springs Guild of Artists and Craftspeople, the Eureka Springs Historical Museum, Eureka Springs Art Gallery and Centennial Committee. Additionally, Louis was instrumental in getting Eureka Springs on the National Register of Historic Places, protecting historic buildings throughout the city.

Outside Eureka Springs, Louis helped to establish art departments at Hendrix College, Little Rock Junior College, the historically African-American Bishop College in Texas and Florida’s Stetson University.

“Their influence spread well beyond Eureka Springs,” Beacham said.

Beacham said he’s fortunate to have met them, because they brought warmth to every gallery they visited. “It’s not just because they’re great artists, but because they supported artists,” Beacham said. 

“They would go to every art opening and they’d dress up and always look real cute. They talked to artists about their work. They encouraged artists.”

Their legacy endures, with Louis’ paintings displayed throughout Eureka Springs. His mural that originally appeared at Hatchet Hall now lives in the Eureka Springs Historical Museum on the second floor — it was recovered and restored a few years ago. And Elsie’s work is on display at several museums nationwide, including the Smithsonian. 

“I don’t really know if younger people here in Eureka quite understand the impact they had,” Beacham said. 

“During the counterculture movement in the 1970s — the hippie movement — they were really instrumental in keeping that whole theme going.”

The Freunds are buried at the Eureka Springs Cemetery, their gravesite teeming with trinkets gifted by friends and admirers. Even in death, they inspire creativity, reflection and human connection through art.