Francis Chapin

Charming 1950s Painting "Oak Bluffs, Mass." Martha's Vineyard by Francis Chapin

ca. 1950s

A Charming 1950s Mid-Century Modern Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard by Notable Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Completed near the artist's studio and summer home in the historic whaling port town of Edgartown, Massachusetts; a cheerful, diminutive painting of a busy sunlit boat dock. Artwork size: 8 3/4" x 11 3/4". Framed size: 12 1/2" x 15 1/2". Estate stepped on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). A prolific painter, Chapin produced numerous works while traveling in Mexico, France, Spain, Saugatuck and Martha’s Vineyard, where he frequently spent summers and taught at the Old Sculpin Gallery there. Chapin was best recognized for his dynamic and vibrant images of Chicago during the 1930s and 40s. Chapin was a resident of the Old Town neighborhood where he lived and kept his studio on Menomonee Street for many years. Described as a “colorful figure, nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall, and thin, and usually wearing tweeds”, it is easy to imagine Chapin at work observing the busy street life of the city. In addition to his many exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chapin’s work was shown during his lifetime at such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the National Academy of Design, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, among others. Francis Chapin’s paintings are represented in the collections the Art Institute of Chicago; the Friedman Collection, Chicago; the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown; the Denver Art Museum; the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach...

A Charming, Colorful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Harbor Scene of Martha's Vineyard by Notable Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted near the artist's studio and summe...

A large oil on Masonite painting of a street scene in Martha’s Vineyard, with the Old Whaler's Church in the background by artist Francis Chapin. Artwork size: 24" x 36". Framed s...

A colorful harbor scene of Martha's Vineyard by noted Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A vibrant, blustery dockside view, with fishing and sailboats in the har...

EMILIO GRAU SALA Spanish, 1911 - 1975 PLAGE DE TROUVILLE signed Grau Sala (lower left) signed again, located & dated "Grau Sala, Trouville, 1953" on the reverse oil on canvas 15 X 24 inches (38 X 61 cm.) framed: 24-1/2 X 33-3/4 inches (62.5 X 85.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Private French Collection Emilio Grau Sala came from a family of artists. He was born in Barcelona in 1911 and his father, a good cartoonist, had been one of the promoters of the "Salon des Humanistes" and made his exhibitions normally in the Parés Hall. His first works were exhibited at the Salon des Independents, in the years 1930-33. Grau Sala was essentially a Mediterranean painter, son of post-impressionism and enriched with French painting of the last fifty years. Grau Sala lived and absorbed all the avant-garde movements that broke through in Paris, but never adhered to any. Creating your personal style. His pictorial lyricism and naturalism superimposed the evotative and sensitive quality of the image to any other concern. In 1953 Grau Sala spends his first summer in Honfleur becoming one of the most active Honflerian painters. Honfleur forms a coast triangle next to Deauville and Trouville, and in that August of 53, Grau Sala pinto is an elegant beach, which at that time met French and European high society. His works can be found in the Museums of the Villa de Paris, L'Ile de France Museum, at the Château de Sceaux, Honfleur Museum, La Rochelle Museum, Barcelona Museum, Tossa de Mar...

A colorful impressionist coastal oil painting of Provincetown by German / American artist Max Kuehne (1880-1968). Kuehne was born in Halle, Germany, and emigrated to Flushing, New Y...

"Provincetown" is a 12 x 11 3/4 inches, oil on board impressionist street scene by American impressionist painter and member of the Women's Artists Group "The Philadelphia Ten", Nancy Maybin Ferguson...

A serene and subtly rendered coastal scene by H. J. Schneider, this oil on canvas painting captures the quiet expanse of East Hampton’s beachfront architecture and dunes. Executed wi...