The Working Methods of Francis Quirk

Among the treasure trove of Francis Quirk paintings and drawings that went up for auction in Maine were several sketches for works and preliminary drawings.

The first is a sketch for a later portrait that we have not found. It is interesting to see how he is thinking of how the face fits in with the background and the tool in his hands. In some ways the older gentlemen (possibly a farmer) could be seen as fitting into the same genre as "The Summer Pastor."

Sketch for a painting by Francis J. Quirk 

Water Color Study for Portrait by Francis Quirk.

The second is a watercolor sketch for a portrait of a young man and his dog. Could this be a sketch for the painting of Scott Adams III that won the Juror's Prize at the Providence Art Club's 1932 Exhibition?  The hunting outfit, furniture and dog indicate a person of some degree of affluence.  The discovery of the original painting will provide the answer.

Next we have two pastel sketches of  two boys heads in profile. They were studies for the oil painting of the boys at the shore. Could one of them possibly be his son James?

Pastel Sketch of Older Boy by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Sketch of Boy by Francis Quirk

Oil Painting of Two Boys By Francis J. Quirk

Francis Quirk in Arizona

Francis Quirk also spent time in Prescott, Arizona.. In the press there are references to him being at his residence on Pine Drive in the Mountain Club in Summer and over Christmas. One can imagine him loading the family in the car and heading west for a bit of weather as they escaped the Pennsylvania winter.  He was fairly involved in the community and even wrote articles about it for the area newspaper.  Below is the only painting that could be strongly placed in Arizona.

Francis J. Quirk  Pastel (Camelback Mountain Phoenix, Arizona) 

New friends at the Mountain Club have provided helpful information. This painting is of Phoenix's Camelback Mountain from the South. The palm trees could not survive at the altitude of Prescott's Mountain Club.

Camelback Mountain from the South, Phoenix, Arizona

While we are on the Western topic, there was one other work by Quirk that recently was auctioned in Maine. It is a pastel of a wagon train moving through the old west with saguaro cacti and red mountains. It is reminiscent of a work executed for a WPA mural commission. However, we have no record of his being in the employ of that effort. 

Wagon Train Pastel by Francis J. Quirk

Francis Quirk and the Christian Faith

While researching Francis Quirk, we have been able to find out very little about him as a person.  On-line profiles list him as a Roman Catholic. In a review of the work that was going up for auction in Maine recently we were surprised to see several religious works. They may have been produced either for a church or in pursuit of a larger commission.  This provides us with an incentive to spend more time exploring houses of worship on the Maine seacoast.  Who knows what we will find? (Spiritual enlightenment could be a side benefit.)

The first is a sketch for a triptych, altarpiece or mural. It features a haloed Christ offering a blessing while flanked by two angels. On either side are six haloed figures- perhaps the disciples?

Sketch of Jesus and the Apostles by Francis J. Quirk

The next two are scenes from the Stations of the Cross. 

Stations of the Cross 5th Station- Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus to carry his cross. Painting by Francis J. Quirk

The first painting depicts the fifth Station of the Cross in which a carpenter ,Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross.  With the exception of the haloed Christ figure the other figures are in contemporary dress and localized it with an urban background including a golden dome. Notable features include a woman in the classic 60’s protest anti-war pose and the hand in the foreground.  Hands can be challenging to paint, so this may have been an opportunity to engage in an exercise or to demonstrate his skill.  Could it have a special meaning?

Stations of the Cross 12th Station Jesus Dies on the Cross    Painting by Francis J. Quirk

The second  is The 12th station in which Jesus Dies on the Cross. The scene has been localized to the Maine Coast with a lighthouse in the background and modernized with contemporary fashions including a businessman and a soldier. While it may have driven home a metaphor about his town and an outpost of the Roman Empire, it also may have raised a few eyebrows among more conservative parishioners at the time. For perspective, it was not uncommon at the time of the Viet Nam war for some people to vilify the military and sadly use insults such as the term “baby killer.” But, isn’t prodding thought part of what art is for?

The fourth is a pencil sketch for a work of Jesus meeting with the Fishermen. He tells them to cast their nets on the opposite side of the boat.  And they are rewarded with a bountiful catch. In this sketch he has again localized it by putting the fishermen in modern clothes and making the boats dories that were traditionally used for cod fishing.

Sketch for painting of Christ and the Fisherman  by Francis J. Quirk

The sketch illustrates the thoughtful work Quirk put into laying out his paintings and positioning the figures. Christ is center in a position that foreshadows his eventual sacrificial death.

This image in the collection also struck our eye as a possible image of Jesus.However, we readily point out that Jesus probably did not use a pencil or pen.

Jesus? by Francis Quirk

The final work is a charcoal sketch of people praying in church. It includes people praying in the foreground and nuns in the rear.

Charcoal sketch by Francis J. Quirk

Quirk's Painting of Carl Sandburg-- Oil Study Found in Maine, Pastel Study Found in Pennsylvania

April 2018 Update

The owners of the pastel have provided us with this better image of the pastel protrait study of Carl Sandburg.

May 2017 Update

Through a Pennsylvania friend of Francis Quirk, we have found a pastel study for the painting of Carl Sandburg. It still does not solve the riddle as to the location of the final painting. But it does provide us with a bit more context.

The pastel is a profile, while the oil portrait study below has an angled approach.

The Original 2016 Post

Among the paintings and paintings due to come up for auction in the coming days we found this painting which is clearly a study for the missing portrait of Carl Sandburg. We reached out to decendents of Abby Sutherland Brown, but have had no luck finding it.

Study for Portrait of Carl Sandberg Found in Francis Quirk's Maine Auction

Amelia Earhardt and Abby Sutherland Brown of Ogontz College

While this is a bit off-topic, it is an interesting side item. While seeking the possible location of Francis Quirk's portrait of Carl Sandburg, we conducted a search on information related to Abby Sutherland Brown. She was the primary force driving Ogontz College and commissioned the portrait of her friend, Sandburg. 

Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, writer, and editor who won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as "a major figure in contemporary literature", especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920). 


The main Sandburg portrait we found is the work of William Smith from 1961. It is not the work of Francis J. Quirk.

Portrait of Carl Sandburg by William Smith

In a Dictionary of Literary Influences we came across this write up of Ogontz College student Amelia Earhart and her relationship with Abby. 

You can find the original text of the book here.  

Francis Quirk Painted in Watercolors and Quite Well!

 

 

At the upcoming September auction of Francis Quirk paintings there will also be drawings and watercolors by this gifted and multifaceted artist. One of the most interesting surprises was how much he worked in watercolors. We knew of his use of pastels and oil, but the number and quality of the watercolors was surprising. We have excerpted three images below.

 

Untitled watercolor by Francis J. Quirk

Watercolor is a tricky medium to work in because the artist needs to plan ahead and not paint in the white areas. Quirk's watercolors contain a surprisingly large amount of detail and artistry in what can be a medium for sketching and quick work. Below is an interesting scene of a rescue of a foundering ship. One can see the canon for shooting the line, the lifeboat rowing out and the crowd watching the scene. It is a quintessential coastal painting with drama and activity. The multitude of active figures is not highly common in Quirk's works. 



Untitled Watercolor by Francis J. Quirk Scene of Shoreline Rescue of Foundering Ship

 

The painting below illustrates Quirk's ability to capture fine detail and work with precision in watercolor. The untitled work appears to be a wharf building of coastal Maine. It reminds one of the work of the Precisionists and Charles Sheeler in particular. Like many of Sheeler's paintings, this one contains no figures allowing the buildings to starkly dominate the image.

 

Untitled watercolor by Francis Quirk

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965) was an American painter known for his paintings of industrial and rural buildings.

Charles Sheeler

Fugue by Charles Sheeler 1940  Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Treasure trove of Quirk Art to sell in Maine on September 9th.

We recently visited with auctioneer Ed Wheaton of Pittston, Maine.  The owner of several quirk paintings and a number of works on paper has entrusted them to Ed to auction them off. The inventory includes portraits, pastels, watercolors, and drawings. It is a fascinating collection that includes works from his youth all the way through his exhibits at Lehigh University and at Ossabaw Island. You can see some of the art here.

The auction is scheduled for September 9th.

Below are a few of the paintings... I am seeking permission to post more..

Francis Quirk connected with Colleen Moore Movie Star!

Further research has revealed that the founder of Photoplay magazine James Quirk had a daughter Francis. As a result, there are several signed movie star photos inscribed to her- Francis Quirk. Alas, it appears that the link with the artist Francis Quirk is not accurate. (updated 3/13/2017)


In our quest for all things Quirk we found an image of an autographed photo of Colleen Moore. It is inscribed to Francis Quirk who would have been in his 20's when she was at the peek of her fame. How they met or this came to be, we do not know. 

Colleen Moore Photograph Dedicated to Francis Quirk

Colleen Moore was a very well known and well paid actress in the early days of Hollywood Movies. She is known as the originator of the Bob Haircut that characterized the flapper movement. She developed the haircut for a film role in which she was playing a rather unrestrained character. That haircut would be her trademark for the rest of her life.

When the fad ended, the Bob Haircut did not permanently disappear. A version of the Bob Haircut would later be popularized in the 1970's by Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill.

Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill

Shifting back to Ms. Moore, her fame in her time should not be underestimated. She was a film star.

F. Scott Fitzgerald would say of her. “I was the spark that lit up Flaming Youth, Colleen Moore was the torch. What little things we are to have caused all that trouble.” 

Below is just a small selection of movie posters from her oeuvre. 

Colleen Moore also was known for her love of dollhouses and visitors to Chicago's  Museum of Science and Industry can see the house she donated on exhibit. It is amazing.

Room from the Colleen Moore Dollhouse

One of the best bios of Moore we found was associated with a screening of one of her films at the Park Ridge Classic Film. You can read that bio here.