Where did Francis Quirk Sell His Art in Maine?

Map highlighting Ogunquit Maine

In our quest to learn more about Quirk, we have begun exploring the places he exhibited and sold his fine paintings. A bio lists the "Ogunquit Gallery" and we have reached out to the non-profit Ogunquit Art Association for their 75th anniversary book to see if it has any mention of him. If so, a visit to lovely coastal Maine could be on the travel itinerary to begin sorting through boxes in the archives. (We'll also stop for a nice lobster at Mabels!)

We also have learned from a helpful person at the Ogunquit Art Association that artist Chris Ritter had a gallery on Route 1 and this could be the gallery referred to in the bio. Route 1 is the coastal road with shops, housing and industry on it.

Chris Ritter was a fairly well known artist himself and had relocated from New York. His bio on Ask Art.com says that he was born in 1908 and had a gallery in New York from 1946-1951. He also taught art at Hunter College and Cornell. He died in 1976, but his wife lived on past 2000. Her holdings were auctioned in 2006.

Chris Ritter Self Portrait

.  We will see where this leads.

Francis Quirk's Wife Anna Exhibited Artistic Talent as Well

In our never- ending quest to learn more about Quirk a query on the web revealed that his wife Anna also had some flair with the brush. The article below was in the Lehigh University Brown and White on Tuesday November 23, 1964. It appears that Anna's work had been exhibited at Old Orchard (Beach) Art Association and it was also on view at Moravian College.

According to Wikipedia "Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region. The College traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation (John Amos Comenius), the 17th century Moravian bishop, though it did not receive a charter to grant baccalaureate degrees until 1863.

We have not yet found any of her works... but we have not really tried that hard yet.

Is this a Photo of a Francis Quirk Portrait of Robert Strider of Colby College? No.

Quirk's bio lists him as being commissioned by the Colby College Alumni to paint the College President Robert Strider.  The College is located in Waterville, Maine so it is likely that he came to the attention of the school through his Summer presence there. But where is the painting. We checked the collection of the quite respectable Colby College Art Museum and their was no mention of him in the collection.

An aside about the The Colby College Museum Collection, which appears to be well worth a trip to Maine to see. The collection includes major artists such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, Mary Cassatt, Robert Henri, Paul Manship, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

The Museum also showcases the work of significant 20th- and 21st-century American artists, including John Marin, George Bellows, Fairfield Porter, Marsden Hartley, Terry Winters, many works by Alex Katz.  Adolph Gottlieb, Rudy Burckhardt, Chuck Close, Jennifer Bartlett, Lois Dodd, and Elizabeth Murray.

Back to finding Quirks work... So we reached out to the President's Office figuring that the former President's portrait is an administration building conference room or hallway. We are waiting to hear back.

In the mean time we did find a black and white picture of a portrait on the Wheeling Ohio Hall of Fame website where Strider is honored. There we came across this unattributed black and white image of an oil portrait. Is it the full image or a cropped close up? There does not appear to be a signature, was it cropped out?  Only time and investigation will tell.

Portrait of Colby President Robert Strider

For reference here is  picture of younger President Strider from Wikipedia. He was quite an accomplished fellow in addition to guiding the College through a period of extensive growth over a period of 20 years, he received 11 honorary degrees, served in numerous service posts and remained active until his death in 2010. Perhaps the portrait is in the Theater in Runnals Union that is named after him.

Photo of Colby College President Robert Strider

As part of our ongoing research, we have since found the image of the actual portrait. You can see Quirk's work by visiting this post. 

Quirk at Ogontz College

Quirk's Biography has him working at Ogontz College from 1935-1950. This entity was entirely new to me. The best information on it comes from the work of Lillian Hansberry of the Penn State Library System.

For 100 years, the elite and prestigious school known as The Ogontz School for Young Ladies was a prominent force in female private education. Three locations served the school, each for about a third of its existence.  The school had its beginnings in 1850 as The Chestnut Street Female Seminary, founded by two teachers, Miss Mary L. Bonney and Miss Harriette A. Dillaye, who had been classmates at the Troy Female Seminary, NY. The location of their "finishing school" was a stately four-story row house at 1615 Chestnut Street- surrounded by some of Philadelphia's wealthiest residences- but after several decades, the success of the school required a search for more suitable quarters "in the country."

In 1883 the school rented the Elkins Park estate of Civil War financier Jay Cooke, named “Ogontz” for Cooke’s boyhood mentor and role model—a Sandusky Indian chief. Cooke also made considerable sums developing railroads including the Northern Pacific Railroad. While he once lost Ogontz in bankruptcy, he purchased it back and donated it to the school. This was one of many charitable activities. He also send painter Thomas Moran out to paint the West. He is known for his paintings of Niagra Falls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (below.)

With the move, the school assumed the name of the estate and became The Ogontz School for Young Ladies. By then misses Bonney and Dillaye had selected two associate principals from the school’s faculty, Miss Frances Bennett and Miss Sylvia Eastman. At the new location the four principals shared responsibility for a brief time, with Bennett and Eastman gradually taking over entirely. Sylvia Eastman became sole principal after Bennett’s retirement in 1900. For thirty-four years the school thrived in the Jay Cooke mansion, with a student body of about a hundred privileged young girls.

In 1902 a young English teacher joined the faculty, Miss Abby A. Sutherland. She was to become Sylvia Eastman’s hand-picked choice as her successor. After four years of training, during which time Sutherland gradually purchased the school, she took over as principal in 1912—a role she was to maintain until the school closed.

By 1916, the Elkins Park school was outgrowing its quarters. With expansion and modernization in mind, Miss Sutherland purchased fifty-four acres of land on “the rolling hills of Rydal” in suburban Abington Township. Here she built The Ogontz School into an empire that would eventually encompass a primary school from kindergarten to eighth grade (The Rydal School), a high school, and a junior college. The new location opened in the fall of 1917 and distinguished alumnae include Amelia Earhart, Mary Curtis who founded Philadelphia's Curtis School of Music, noted painter Eleanor Massey (Bridges) who taught Art at Vassar and of course Nancy McFeeley who fathered the popular children's TV host Mr. Rogers.

It was at this location that Quirk worked for 15 years. For part of the time he served as Co-Head of the Art Department with Mrs. John Lewis Gross. She was in charge of painting and studies from life. He focused on black and white drawing, murals and History of Art. By the time of his departure in 1949 there was a graduation award in his honor- The Francis J. Quirk Portrait Award for marked progress in the Ogantz Junior College Art Department. The tradition may have started in 1938 when he executed a portrait of Nancy Lustig in Pastel. A Nancy Lustig is listed in the 1940 census as living in Manhattan with her parents; stepfather Saul J. Barow and mother Sophie. The family had a live in driver and cook, so they weren't doing too bad financially.

Changing times and changing fortunes marked the end of The Ogontz School in 1950 when Abby Sutherland gave the campus and facilities to The Pennsylvania State College, now The Pennsylvania State University. This change also may have been the catalyst for Quirk to move on to Lehigh University.

Lodging at Camp Ogontz

Ogontz spun off a camp in the White Mountains in Lisbon, NH. It continued to thrive into the 1960's, but has since shifted to a more musical focus with various groups using it for retreats during the Summer Season.

Portrait Photo of Quirk

While searching for Quirk's painting of Carl Sandburg, I came across this photo of Quirk from the Brown and White Newspaper at Lehigh University.  Now he has a face and it is not the happy jovial type I had imagined.

Photo of Francis Joseph Quirk from the Brown and White Newspaper at Lehigh University

Francis Quirk Painting at Canton Ohio Museum of Art

The staff at the Canton Ohio Museum of Art graciously pulled out their Francis Quirk painting and forwarded us a picture.  (Thank you Linnda!) It was surprixing to see the nautical subject in a collection so far from the sea. Perhaps it was painted during one of Quirk's visits to Maine.

"Shrimper, Early Morning" 1968 Painting by Francis J. Quirk Canton Museum of Art

Shrimper, Early Morning 1968 Portrait by Francis Quirk 35"x 29 1/4" Oil on Canvas  Canton Museum of Art

 In an odd coincidence, I just was visiting Maritime Gloucester for the first time in 40 years and saw the Fisherman's Memorial.

Framed Quirk Portrait of Mark H. Wakefield.

The Quirk Painting of Reverend Mark H. Wakefield is back from the framers and we are pleased to see the result. If you look closely along the right edge you can see a band of brighter color. This area was covered by the earlier frame, which had been removed earlier.



The Summer Pastor by Francis J. Quirk