FRANK C. PENFOLD (Buffalo, New York 1849 – Concarneau, Brittany 1921)
Waiting for Father
signed and dated F.C. Penfold 1880 in the lower right
oil on canvas
31 5/8 x 22 inches (80.3 x 55.9 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Massachusetts
EXHIBITED
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Special Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists at Home and in Europe, November 7 – December 26, 1881, no. 331
London, The Royal Society of British Artists, no. 487, 1882/1883
LITERATURE
Special Exhibition of Paintings by American Artists at Home and in Europe, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1881, p. 17, no. 331, illustration 65
Algernon Graves, “Frank C. Penfold” in Dictionary of Artists who have exhibited works in the Principal London Exhibitions from 1760 to 1893, Burt Franklin, New York, 1970, p. 215
Jane Robinson, comp., “Frank C. Penfold” in The Royal Society of British Artists 1824-1893 and The New English Art Club 1888-1917, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1987, p. 363
J. Johnson + A. Greutzner comp., “Frank C. Penfold” in The Dictionary of British Artists 1880-1940, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1988, p. 397
Christopher Wood, “Frank C. Penfold” in the Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1989, p. 364
A drawing of this painting is in the permanent collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Although Frank C. Penfold is regarded as an American artist his reputation remains somewhat of an enigma in the country of his birth. He began his studies with his father William Penfold, a portrait painter. In 1877 he traveled to France, trained at the Académie Julian in Paris, and eventually settled in Pont Aven, Brittany.[1] By the time of Penfold’s arrival, Pont Aven was a thriving international artist’s colony. An area of haunting beauty, it further offered inexpensive accommodations, a mystic Celtic culture, and a picturesque populace willing to serve as models.[2] Penfold was so enamored that he maintained a home there, as well as in Buffalo, New York, for the rest of his life. [3]
In America he helped organize the Municipal Art League in Chicago in 1901. He was a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists and served as its president in 1896. In 1893 he exhibited at the Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago, as well in 1901 at the Pan American Exposition, World’s Fair in Buffalo where he was awarded the prize of Honorable Mention. In 1904 Penfold showed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis World’s Fair. Numerous other American venues included solo shows at the Albright Art Gallery (now the Albright-Knox Gallery), Buffalo.[4]
In France Penfold continuously exhibited at the Salon in Paris. At his first showing in 1882 his painting Mort du Premier Né was promptly purchased by the French government for the Municipal Museum, Brest.[5] The importance of exhibiting at the Salon cannot be overstated. The Salons set the standards for the art market. Thousands of paintings were hung at each Salon, creating the largest exhibition of contemporary art in the world. Thousands poured into Paris to attend the Salon, with years that had 500,000 visitors not unusual. The public regarded painters whose work had been accepted by the Salon as worthy of purchase, with the exact opposite being true for those whose paintings had been rejected.[6]
Additionally, Penfold exhibited in England. His participation, and in particular the showing of Waiting for Father, are documented in all the primary references of British exhibitions of the period. Although admirable, the extent of such widespread participation served to diffuse his reputation, and it is for this reason he has not received the acclaim his works merit. Besides the Municipal Museum, Brest, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, museums that acquired his works include those of Buffalo, New York; Waterville, Maine; and Omaha, Nebraska.
Penfold painted marines, genre, landscapes, and portraits, but was renowned for his paintings of Brittany, with this work being a most charming example. Waiting for Father features a lovely young girl, bathed in sunlight, gazing out to sea. Clothed in the traditional garb of the region, she wears an elaborate lace headdress, short blue linen dress, and sabots. The luminous quality of the ocean and sky alongside a vibrant coastline enhances the subtle beauty of the sitter to create a dazzling display. It is thus hardly surprising that in 1982 when the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts had the opportunity to acquire a drawing of this work, they did not hesitate.
[1] Burr H. Nicholls, Frank Crawford Penfold, Meibohm Fine Arts, www.meibohmfinearts.com, 3/2010.
[2] William A. Davis, “Where Gaugin Became Great” in The Boston Glove, September 12, 2004.
[3] Nicholls, op.cit..
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Gerald M. Ackerman, “The Glory and Decline of a Great Institution” in French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, January 21 – March 3, 1983, pp. 8-9, 12.