Louis L. Betts was born on October 5, 1873 in Little Rock, Arkansas. His father, E.D. Betts, Sr., was a landscape painter and his mother was also an artist. His father became his first instructor, who happily and willingly taught his son pictorial art since an early age. As a reward for painting his first portrait at the age of fourteen, Louis received instruction on the violin, his favorite instrument. Years later Betts studied at the Pennsyl-vania Academy of Fine Art under William Merritt Chase who encouraged Betts to become an Impressionist. Louis also studied at the Chicago Art Institute.

Within time Betts won the Cresson scholarship, which he used to travel on his first trip to Europe. For two years he studied abroad and then remained in France, England, Holland, Spain, and Italy for seven years painting portraits in court circles.

In the United States, Betts exhibited and was awarded prizes at the National Academy of Design in 1902, 1918, 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1937; the Art Institute of Chicago, the St. Louis Expo, the Carnegie Institute, and the Allied Artists of America.  In 1923 he won the first Altman Prize of the National Academy and then shown in the Toledo Art Museum. He became known as a successful portraitist of the time in Chicago, New York, Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Madrid. He was also known for genre, landscapes, still lifes, flower gardens, nudes, and Indians.

In 1912 Betts was elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design and then, in 1915, he became a full Academician. He was also a member of the Academy of National Arts in 1912. Around this period, he spent time at the Impressionists’ art colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut. He passed away in New York City in 1961.