William Frederick Foster Furniture

Sumptuous, very large, original oil on canvas board, still life painting depicting a banquet table. This painting is a virtuoso display of how artist William Frederick Foster (1883-1953) captures texture in paint. You can see this in the mouth watering fruit, crustacea and other samplings laid upon the table as well as the masterfully painted reflective surfaces of the copper tea pot, wine bottle and the gathered table cloth. Painting is framed in the original wood frame. Painting framed measures 34.5” high x 46” wide x 1.5” deep. Painting unframed measures 30.5” high x 42.5” wide. William Foster was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1883. He became a noted figure painter and illustrator, living the last twenty-one years of his career in Los Angeles, California. At age 12, he moved with his family to Colorado, but in 1898, he returned to Cincinnati and enrolled at the Art Academy where he studied with Joseph Henry Sharp and Frank Duveneck. His early ambition was to be a violinist, but he was re-focused on fine art when he saw a painting by Albert Ceck Wenzell. In 1902, he went to New York City where he painted scenery for theaters, auditoriums, and large department stores. He also studied at the New York School with Robert Henri and William Merritt Chase, and from 1903 to 1931, he worked as an illustrator and with a brief teaching stint in 1919 at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1903, he sold his first illustration, a depiction of high society, to Life magazine, and the style was very similar to Wenzell. From that time, he worked for most of the major magazines including Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post and Harper's Monthly. In 1926, he won the National Academy of Design's Thomas B. Clarke Prize for the best figure composition painted in the United States by a non-academician. The following year, he was voted an Associate Member based on his recognition for a figure work titled The Girl in Brown. During World War I, he operated his own ambulance in France as a member of the American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps and also received mention as a camoufleur artist. Returning to the U.S., he resumed his illustration work and moved to Chicago, where he taught at the Art Institute. Foster moved to Los Angeles in 1932 and devoted his energy to painting, exhibiting and teaching. He taught at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles and gave private classes in his studio. He also worked on a mural project at the Hearst estate...

Story illustration for "The Passer By" for Cosmopolitan magazine

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left Harper's Monthly, 1917.

This is a charming Post-Impressionist painting of a young girl caught in an intimate moment of brushing her hair. William Foster's (1883-1953) expert display of light on his young s...

William Frederick Foster (1883-1953 American) ''Portrait of Youth'' Oil on Canvas 30''x25'' Image. Signed middle left. Gilt gallery framing 36''x31''. Professionally cleaned and reli...