Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
American, 1899-1965
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; the Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among others.to
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Artist: Francis Chapin
A Distinctive Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Man with Red Necktie, Joe Muldoon
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A distinctive Mid-Century Modern portrait of a man with red necktie by noted Chicago painter, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Chapin's estate records list the sitter as named Joe Mu...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
1930s Painting of a Pensive Young Woman, Titled, "Green Scarf" by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1930s oil on board painting of a pensive young woman, titled, "Green Scarf" by artist Francis Chapin. Painting is in a dark, painted wood frame. Image size: 14 1/4" x 10". Fram...
Category
1930s American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
A Striking Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Blonde Woman by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A strikingly beautiful Mid-Century Modern portrait of a blonde woman in a black dress by noted Chicago painter, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted circa 1945, completed with Ch...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
A Wonderful 1950s Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Woman Seated at a Table
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A wonderful 1950s Mid-Century Modern portrait of a young woman seated at a table by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Great color palette and expressive, contemp...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Charming Mid-Century Modern 1950s Portrait of a Young Girl by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A charming, beautifully painted, Mid-Century Modern portrait of a young girl by noted Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Dating from the 1950s, the painting was exhibited at the famed ...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
A Striking Mid-Century Modern Portrait of a Young Woman, Red Dress, Green Scarf
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A striking Mid-Century Modern portrait of a young woman wearing a red dress and green scarf by noted Chicago painter, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Artwork size: 15” x 14”; Fram...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
A Charming, Colorful 1930s Painting of a Young Woman Knitting by Francis Chapin
By Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A charming, colorful 1930s painting of a young woman knitting by famed Chicago Modern artist, Francis Chapin. A harmonious palette of cheerful yellows, reds and blues, where a young...
Category
1930s American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
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Portrait of Franklin Atwood Park, VP of Singer Mfg. Co.
Located in Soquel, CA
Portrait of Franklin Atwood Park, VP of Singer Mfg. Co.
Stately portrait of Franklin Atwood Park by Arthur Trevethin Nowell (British, 1862-1940). Park is sitting for a classical portrait, wearing a suit with a blue bowtie against a dark background. Of particular note are his glasses and moustache, both rendered with expert detail. Park was the VP and Chairman of the Board for Singer Manufacturing Company and Manager of the Singer Division in Scotland when the portrait was commissioned. We show a digital image of a photographic portrait of Franklin.
Signed and dated "A T Nowell. 1922"
Includes paper with biographical information on the sitter.
Frame size: 37.5"H x 32.5"W
Canvas size: 30"H x 25"W
Arthur Nowell (British, 1862-1940) was born at Garndiffath, near Pontypool, and was the youngest of six children born to the Rev. John Nowell and his wife Mary...
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H 37.5 in W 32.5 in D 3 in
Simka Simkhovitch WPA Artist Oil Painting Family Mother, Kids American Modernist
By Simka Simkhovitch
Located in Surfside, FL
Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949)
This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not.
These were studies for larger paintings.
Simka Simkhovitch (Симха Файбусович Симхович) (aka Simka Faibusovich Simkhovich) (Novozybkov, Russia May 21, 1885 O.S./June 2, 1885 N.S.—Greenwich, Connecticut February 25, 1949) was a Ukrainian-Russian Jewish artist and immigrant to the United States. He painted theater scenery in his early career and then had several showings in galleries in New York City. Winning Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissions in the 1930s, he completed murals for the post offices in Jackson, Mississippi and Beaufort, North Carolina. His works are in the permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Born outside Kyiv (Petrograd Ukraine) into a Jewish family who owned a small department store. During a severe case of measles when he was seven, Simcha Simchovitch sketched the views outside his window and decided to become an artist, over his father's objections. Beginning in 1905, he studied at the Grekov Odessa Art School and upon completion of his studies in 1911 received a recommendation to be admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Though he enrolled to begin classes in architecture, painting, and sculpture at the Imperial Academy, he was dropped from the school roster in December because of the quota on the number of Jewish students and drafted into the army. Simchovitch served as a private in the 175th Infantry Regiment Baturyn [ru] until his demobilization in 1912. Re-enrolling in the Imperial Academy, he audited classes.
Simka Simkhovitch exhibited paintings and sculptures in 1918 as part of an exhibition of Jewish artists and in 1919 placed 1st in the competition "The Great Russian Revolution" with a painting called "Russian Revolution" which was hung in the State Museum of Revolution. In 1922, Simkha Simkhovitch exhibited at the International Book Fair in Florence (Italian: Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Firenze). In 1924, Simkhovitch came to the United States to make illustrations for Soviet textbooks and decided to immigrate instead. Initially he supported himself by doing commercial art and a few portrait commissions. In 1927, he was hired to paint a screen for a scene in the play "The Command to Love" by Fritz Gottwald and Rudolph Lothar which was playing at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Art dealers began clamoring for the screen and Simkhovitch began a career as a screen painter for the theater. Catching the attention of the screenwriter, Ernest Pascal, he worked as an illustrator for Pascal, who then introduced him to gallery owner, Marie Sterner. Simkhovitch's works appeared at the Marie Sterner Gallery beginning with a 1927 exhibit and were repeated the following year. Simkhovitch had an exhibit in 1929 at Sterner's on circus paintings. In 1931, he held a showing of works at the Helen Hackett Gallery, in New York City and later that same year he was one of the featured artists of a special exhibit in San Francisco at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. The exhibit was coordinated by Marie Sterner and included four watercolors, including one titled "Nudes". He is of the generation of Russian Soviet artists such as Isaac Pailes, Serge Charchoune, Marc Chagall, Chana Orloff, Isaac Ilyich Levitan, and Ossip Zadkine.
In 1936, Simkhovitch was selected to complete the mural for the WPA Post office project in Jackson, Mississippi. The mural was hung in the post office and courthouse in 1938 depicted a plantation theme. Painted on the wall behind the judge’s bench, “Pursuits of Life in Mississippi”, a depiction of black workers engaged in manual labor amid scenes of white professionals and socialites, was eventually covered over in later years during renovations due to its stereotypical African American imagery. The following year, his painting "Holiday" won praise at an exhibition in Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1940, Simkhovitch's second WPA post office project was completed when four murals, "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat", "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright", "Sand Ponies" and "Canada Geese" were installed in Beaufort, North Carolina. The works were commissioned in 1938 and did not generate the controversy that the Jackson mural had. The main mural is "The Wreck of the Crissie Wright" and depicts a shipwreck which had occurred in Beaufort in 1866. "The Cape Lookout Lighthouse and the Orville W. Mail Boat" depicted the lighthouse built in 1859 and the mail boat that was running mail during the time which Simkhovitch was there. The boat ran mail for the area until 1957. "Sand Ponies" shows the wild horses common to the North Carolina barrier islands and "Canada Geese" showed the importance of hunting and fishing in the area. All four murals were restored in the 1990s by Elisabeth Speight, daughter of two other WPA muralists, Francis Speight...
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1930s American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
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Mid Century Fauvist Portrait of Red Headed Woman
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Striking Fauvist portrait with a vibrant, high voltage color palette, featuring a green woman with red hair by Sydney Helfman (American, 1926-2010). Aut...
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Located in Soquel, CA
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Compelling modernist oil on canvas portrait of St. Francis by Dr. Tarmo Pasto (American, 1906-1986). Presented in a taupe painted wood frame. Signed "Tarmo Pasto" bottom right, and titled "St. Francis" bottom center. Image size, 25.5"H x19.5"L.
Dr. Pasto was a long-time contributor to the California art scene, as well as an art teacher and psychologist to many successful artists. He also authored a book on art, "The Space-Frame Experience in Art", published in 1964. He, however, was mainly known to the world for introducing the works of one of his patients, Martin Ramirez...
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Mid-Century Modern Man - Portrait in Oil on Canvas
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Subtle and moody portrait of a Pensive man by Joan Tidwell (American, 1930-2002). The sitter in the portrait is a middle-aged man looking slightly downwards, wearing a collared shirt. This piece is completed in a tan and green palette, creating a somber feeling. Of particular note are the confident, thick brushstrokes - each one is well-placed in the modernist style. Similar in some ways to Picasso's portraits.
Signed "Joan Tidwell" on verso
Unframed.
Canvas size: 30"H x 22"W
oan Gay Tidwell (American, 1930-2002) was born and raised in Hollywood, CA, where she had some success as a child actor. Later, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Washington with a Master's Degree in English Literature and Drama. Tidwell moved to the Bay...
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1960s American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
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Located in Buffalo, NY
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1930s American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
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Late 20th Century American Modern Francis Chapin Portrait Paintings
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H 14 in W 10 in D 0.13 in
Francis Chapin portrait paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Francis Chapin portrait paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Francis Chapin in board, oil paint, paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1930s and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Francis Chapin portrait paintings, so small editions measuring 7 inches across are available. Francis Chapin portrait paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $750 and tops out at $750, while the average work can sell for $750.