The Art of Frank Vining Smith

http://www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/

On June 26, Heritage Museums & Gardens is pleased to open the exhibit The Art of Frank Vining Smith. Smith (1879-1967), whose work was called “the ultimate in marine painting,” summered on Cape Cod as a child. Unable to pursue his childhood hope of becoming a sailor because of poor vision, he turned to his second love, painting, as a way to make a career. Trained at the Museum School in Boston (as well as other art schools), some of the best known painters at the end of the nineteenth century were his teachers including Frank W. Benson, Philip L. Hale and Edmund C. Tarbell. His paintings of ships, particularly wind-driven clipper ships, came to be known across the country in the coming years. His intimate knowledge of ships and how they move through the water, acquired through years of first-hand observation, was acknowledged by art critics, and perhaps more importantly, by sailors themselves, who are notoriously merciless critics of those who choose to paint ships. Eventually he garnered commissions from many leading corporations, prestigious yacht clubs, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and even officers of the United States Navy who asked him to paint murals on several warships. The first major book examining the life and work of Smith will be published to coincide with the opening of the exhibit. Frank Vining Smith: Maritime Painting in the 20th Century by James A. Craig will be available for sale in the museum store.