Erle Loran (1905-1999), painter, printmaker, author and teacher, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 3, 1905. He studied at the University of Minnesota between 1922 and 1923, and then studied with Cameron Booth at the Minneapolis School of Art from which he graduated in 1926. He was awarded the Paris prize of $6,000.00 offered by the John Armstrong Chaloner Foundation of New York City for travel and study in Europe. The next four years Loran traveled and studied throughout Europe and in France he lived in Cezanne's studio. Upon his return to the United States he published many articles on Cezanne.

Loran moved to Northern California in 1936 and in 1937 he began his long teaching career in the art department of the University of California Berkeley. In 1940, he was among a group of twenty artists who produced original prints for the San Francisco Chronicle's Contemporary Graphic Series. He compiled his knowledge of Cezanne into his 1943 book, Cézannes Composition.

Loran was member of the San Francisco Art Association, the California Watercolor Society, and the University of California Berkeley Arts Club. Solo exhibitions of his work were mounted at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Pasadena Museum of Art, de Young Memorial Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Institute and he was included in numerous group exhibitions across the United States. His work is represented in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, University of Minnesota, Denver Art Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the University of California Berkeley.

Erle Loran died in Berkeley, California on May 13, 1999. His papers are in the Archives of American Art.