Frank Harmon Myers (1899 – 1956) was an Impressionist painter. His work includes a variety of topics but is best known for his seascapes.

Personal life

Frank H. Myers was born in

Cleves, Ohio Cleves is a village in Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, located along the Ohio River. The population was 3,234 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1818, it is named for John Cleves Symmes who lived here, laid out the original tow ...

. His family moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 1907. Myers studied at the

Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the U ...

through 1920. In June 1921, he went to France with John Ellsworth Weis (1892-1962), who had been one of his teachers at the Academy. When they returned to Cincinnati, Myers began teaching at the Art Academy where he received commissions for portraits. In 1925 he married Ella Price, a young school teacher. They spent their honeymoon in Europe, staying in Paris and Spain. The following year they made an extended trip West to Colorado and California. Upon their return they stopped in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he met, and painted with, Joseph Henry Sharp. Myers took a sabbatical in 1932 and painted in Santa Fe, New Mexico with Joseph Henry Sharp. In the early forties, Myers moved with his wife and son to the

Monterey peninsula The Monterey Peninsula anchors the northern portion on the Central Coast of California and comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, and Pacific Grove, and the resort and community of Pebble Beach. History Monterey Monterey was founded i ...

. They lived in Pacific Grove. Myers was active in the

Carmel Art Association The Carmel Art Association (CAA) is a Not-for-profit arts organization and Art museum, gallery located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The CAA is Carmel's oldest gallery. It features the work of many local artists living on the Monterey Peninsu ...

and served as president in 1953. Myers died of a heart attack in San Francisco, California on March 7, 1956.

History

Known for his works produced with brightly colored expressive brush strokes showing his interest in French impressionism, he eventually focused on painting the coastal areas of California. In the 1930s his health began to falter, and he suffered bouts of depression. In 1940 he took a leave of absence, and visited Monterey, California. He was captivated by the California coastal region, and stayed there for the rest of his life. From that point on he produced, almost exclusively, seascapes of the Monterey Peninsula area. A well-respected leader of the Carmel -Monterey art community, he served as the President of the Carmel Art Association in 1953. His painting companions included Armin Hansen, and Donald Teague. Together they defined the Monterey Peninsula art scene for years to come.

Legacy

His works have been widely exhibited and are in the permanent collections of many prestigious museums, including the

National Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

Museum of New Mexico The Museum of New Mexico is a collection of museums, historic sites, and archaeological services governed by the State of New Mexico. It currently consists of six divisions : the Palace of the Governors state history museum, the New Mexico Museum o ...

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

, Canton Museum of Art, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, The Irvine Museum, the Oakland Museum of Art, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

,Cincinnati Museum of Art, and many others.

Listings

Myers is listed in: *''Artists In California: 1786-1940'' (

Edan Milton Hughes Edan Milton Hughes (June 4, 1935April 21, 2015) was an American art dealer and collector of California art. He wrote the definitive work on California artists. Life Edan Milton Hughes was born June 4, 1935, in Maysville, Kentucky. He attended the ...

); *''Who Was Who In American Art'' ( Falk); *''Artists of the American West'' ( Dawdy); *''Art Across America'' ( Gerdts); *''Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West'' ( Samuels); *''Yesterday's Artists On The Monterey Peninsula'' (

Spangenberg Spangenberg is a small town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Spangenberg lies in the Schwalm-Eder district some southeast of Kassel, west of the Stölzinger Gebirge, a low mountain range. Spangenberg is the demographic centrepoint o ...

); *''Art & Artists of the Monterey Peninsula'' (Harbick); *''Carmel Art Association: A History'' ( Hoag McGlynn); Mallett; *

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

; *''Fieldings''; the Artist's Bluebook (Dunbier); *AskART.com; the newly published Carmel Art Association: Its Legends and Legacies, 1927-2007 (Crispo & Watson); and many others. * Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) has five Myers paintings in its collection. Some of the other institutions with paintings by Myers include the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

and The Irvine Museum.

References

* The biographical information in this article comes from the catalog for a 1988 exhibit at Art Academy of Cincinnati titled ''Frank H Myers: A Retrospective''.

External links