This is one of the best exhibits in town for some years now – an American Impressionist with a local connection. The attached photo is: The Swamp Road, c1905, which depicts the road to the Furnace, Snow Hill, Maryland. Oil on canvas. 21 3/8 x 15 1/4 in. with frame.
This is the first public exhibit of his work in 73 years. It has been privately held by his family following his death in 1935.
The exhibit hours are limited – it’s in the student activity building (Guerrieri University Center) – near the entrance facing Dogwood Drive -- until May 28, so don't miss it.
Atrium Gallery -- Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
For more photos of Mr. Warren's outstanding work see:
http://www.frankawarren.com/art
5 comments:
Warren has become a largely unknown master of impressionism (mostly landscape) because after his death the family became reclusive and held his work without selling or exhibiting it. It looks like the latest generation has decided to show and market his work, so it may soon be dispersed -- this could be a last chance to see it as a body.
It's a very timely (and good) show. Kudos to SU.
PS- The home in the Pocomoke Forest is also a masterpiece, and largely unknown for the same reason.
PPS- You did not post the photo of the painting that depicts the road to the Iron Furnace, but it is available at the Internet link that you posted.
[the following is from the link you posted]:
Frank Algernon Warren, who was listed in Who's Who in American Art throughout the 1920s, was a graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design and the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and his murals are in public and private buildings in Philadelphia, Albany, San Diego, and Montreal.
During his lifetime he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Central America. Warren's paintings, which are in the Impressionist style, fall into principally four categories: industrial scenes of Pittsburgh; figure paintings; rural scenes of Maryland; and western and southwestern landscapes. He is noted for his striking use of heavy paint and intense color.
Born in Dutchess County, New York, Warren married Mary Leach in 1889 and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The couple had nine children. In 1905, Warren moved with his family to the eastern shore of Maryland. There he purchased 300 acres of forestland where he built a home patterned after a Spanish villa. The twenty-three room house, which Warren named "The Forest," was constructed of frame overlaid with concrete stucco to resemble the forest surroundings.
Known for his flamboyant personality, Warren is reputed to have said that he wanted "the biggest hat, the biggest car, and the biggest house in Maryland." Consequently, he wore a Stetson hat, drove a California Cadillac, and built himself a one-of-a-kind mansion. Warren's adventurous spirit and restless energy are apparent in all of his artistic endeavors, from his paintings, to his murals, to his house.
This spirit of adventure permeated his personal life as well. In 1898 Warren and his wife Mary, with their four young children, including a baby, made the trip from Pittsburgh to New York City on a tandem bicycle to which he had attached a "sidecar," thereby inventing (but unfortunately not patenting) the sidecar later used on motorcycles
And there's a (recent-?) photo of the "Forest" house he built in the Pocomoke Swamp at http://www.frankawarren.com/ -- overtones of Frank Lloyd Wright (Falling Water & Taliesen West). Apparently SU is organizing a tour of the home.
WOW!I would love to take a tour of that house.The "Warren Mansion" sure brings back memories from the 1970's."Cruisin' the Forest" was always an adventure.The Old Furnace,Dinosaur Land and the dirt roads that made up the right and left ventricle of the heart of the forest.
It is a beautiful house that should be toured if you get the chance. It is huge and lovely and unique.
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