Frank Fowler (July 12, 1852 – August 18, 1910) was an American figure and portrait painter.

Biography

Frank Fowler was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

on July 12, 1852. He was educated at

Adelphi Academy Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher edu ...

. He studied painting in Europe, at

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

for two years under

Edwin White Edwin White (May 21, 1817 in South Hadley, Massachusetts – June 7, 1877 in Saratoga Springs, New York) was an American Painting, painter. Life and career Edwin White studied in Paris, Düsseldorf, Rome, and Florence and later taught at the N ...

, for seven years under

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (Lille 4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917 Paris), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of high society in Third Republic France. Biograph ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and under

Alexandre Cabanel Alexandre Cabanel (; 28 September 1823 – 23 January 1889) was a French painter. He painted historical, classical and religious subjects in the academic style. He was also well known as a portrait painter. According to ''Diccionario Enciclopedi ...

at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. Fowler assisted Duran on the

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

Marie de Médicis Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

in the

Luxembourg Palace The Luxembourg Palace (french: Palais du Luxembourg, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the ...

. On his return to New York in 1879 he devoted himself for a time to mural painting, his most important work being the decoration of the ballroom at the Waldorf Hotel (1892) (The building exists no more, having been destroyed to provide a place where the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

could be erected). Later he painted chiefly portraits, including a number of public men. Some of his portraits have been kept at

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

and elsewhere. In the late 1890s, he resided in a home on at #16 The Enclosure, an artists' colony in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143. What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legisla ...

. He built a large studio on the back of that house, where he painted. The same studio was later owned by Michael Lenson, a well known New Jersey painter who was director of the mural division of the New Jersey WPA in the 1930s. Earlier, the same home was owned by

Frederick Dana Marsh Frederick Dana Marsh (1872 – December 20, 1961) was an Americans, American illustrator. Born in 1872 to a prosperous Chicago stockyard merchant, Marsh attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he worked with artists preparin ...

, the illustrator. The house was the childhood home of Reginald Marsh, the distinguished American painter. In 1892, he was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1900. He wrote upon art topics for the magazines and several textbooks: ''Oil Painting'' (1885), ''Portrait and Figure Painting'' (1901) and ''Drawing In Charcoal And Crayon'' (1899). Fowler died in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

on August 18, 1910.

References

1852 births 1910 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Painters from Brooklyn People from Nutley, New Jersey American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Painters from New Jersey 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-1850s-stub