Frances Foy (April 11, 1890 – 1963) was an American painter, muralist, illustrator, and etcher born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Career

Foy began studying art with

Wellington J. Reynolds Wellington Jarard Reynolds (April 9, 1865 in New Lenox, Illinois – 1949) was a well-known Chicago portrait painter and art instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago. Educated in Chicago, Munich, and Paris, he was awarded medals for his work at ...

at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later attended the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

where she continued studying with Reynolds as well as with

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

and Fred Schook. Foy completed commercial work and began to exhibit her work in many venues in the 1920s, including Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago Woman's Aid, the Romany Club, and the Art Institute of Chicago. She and other classmates were active in Chicago's progressive movement in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, she and husband Gustaf Dalstrom traveled with other artists to Europe, where she was directly exposed to European modernists. She was a member of the

Chicago Society of Artists The Chicago Society of Artists is a non-profit organization. The "CSA is the oldest continuing association of artists in the United States. Since its inception and incorporation in 1889, the Chicago Society of Artists has had two primary objectives ...

and served on the technical committee of the Federal

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...

Family life

She married fellow artist and her mentor, Gustaf Dalstrom, in 1923. They settled in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

area of Chicago and often painted scenes of community life, including the

Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it the fourth oldest zoo in North America. It is also one of a few free admission zoos in the Unit ...

and neighborhood schoolchildren.

Murals

Foy receive commissions for murals through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, later called the

Section of Fine Arts The Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture was a New Deal art project established on October 16, 1934, and administered by the Procurement Division of the United States Department of the Treasury. Commonly known as the Section, it was rena ...

, of the United States Treasury Department.University of Central Arkansas.
Arkansas Post Office Murals
.Carlisle, John C., “A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals”, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995 p.34-35 In 1943, Foy painted two murals in the

West Allis, Wisconsin West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Histo ...

post office, ''Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Spring'' and ''Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Autumn''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foy, Frances 1890 births 1963 deaths American women painters Modern painters School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American muralists American women illustrators American illustrators American etchers American women printmakers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists Women muralists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists 20th-century American printmakers Women etchers