Louis Van Oeyen Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1865 - d. 1946

Louis Van Oeyen was born to Scottish immigrants on January 17, 1865 in Dayton, Ohio. Little is known about his childhood or education. He married Edith C. MacDonald in 1886, and the couple would later have daughters Edith Lillian and Helen. After a varied career that included a brief stint as a sign writer in Detroit, Mr. Van Oeyen and his family returned to his home state of Ohio, where shortly after opening his own photographic studio, he joined the Cleveland Press as a staff photographer. His successful career began on a catastrophic note, photographing the Cleveland water tunnel disaster of 1901. He also photographed important local news events like the Cleveland railcar strike of 1908 and sight of the Graf Zeppelin hovering over Cleveland's Terminal Tower in August 1929.

At the time, sports photography was practically nonexistent, and the few attempts to photograph sporting events left much to be desire in terms of clarity and quality. Mr. Van Oeyen made it a professional crusade to change that by taking striking images of boxing and hockey matches, football games, and auto and horse races. During the years prior to the Great Depression, America was enjoying unprecedented growth and prosperity, and Americans became enthusiastic sports spectators. This is when baseball truly became "America's pastime," and players like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Lou Gehrig were showered with public adoration. Mr. Van Oeyen's baseball images cemented his reputation as the premier sports photographer. He pioneered game action photography with the use of new 'stop action' lenses that did not require subject posing. He successfully captured infield plays or runners sliding into bases with great precision. One of his most famous photos was the classic "Close Play at the Plate" that provided the viewer with a virtual experience of the heart-stopping action, complete with a cloud of dust. He also benefited greatly from the use of an Optipod, which enabled Mr. Van Oeyen to swing his camera to capture an action shot without having to move the tripod.


By the mid-1920s, Mr. Van Oeyen was unquestionably Cleveland's most celebrated sports photographer. In addition to his duties at the Cleveland Press, he also began taking taking photographs for the Newspaper Enterprise Association, a Scripps-owned nationally syndicated organization. He remained active until the late 1930s and closed out his career on a high note, photographing the coronation of Great Britain's King George VI for the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) in 1937. Eighty-one-year-old Louis Van Oeyen died in Cleveland, Ohio on December 12, 1946. While his name may not be remembered, his contributions to sports photography will never be forgotten.