Quirk's Pastel Portraits

Francis Quirk executed some exceptional portraits with pastels. Here we provide the ones we have captured in our image library.

He is shown working in pastel in a photo of him in the Brown and White's profile piece published with his retirement from Lehigh University. Earlier at Ogontz College he executed a pastel portrait to a top student every year.

Francis Quirk at work with pastels creating a portrait at Lehigh University. The photo was published in the School's newspaper- "The Brown and White" 

The portraits show his mastery of draftsmanship,shade and color. In the portraits of young children, one can see that he had challenges with getting the relationships of the facial features in proper proportion. Yet in those portraits there are elements executed with great dexterity including a bunny, lobster claw and carriage.

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of twins by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of Young Lady Holding a Dog by Francis J. Quirk

Maritime Sailor Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of Woman with Dog by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

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Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Self- Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Self-Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

"Smoking Man" Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk  Image Courtesy of a Private Collector

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk- This was a study for an oil painting.

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk   This was a study for an oil painting.

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of boy with art and lobster claw by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of a Child by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait of a Child by Francis J. Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis J. Quirk Possibly his wife Anna?

Quirk's Undraped Pastel Portraits and Figure Studies

Francis Quirk worked in a variety of media including oil, water color, pencil, charcoal and pastel. 

We share with you below a few pastel nudes that were part of the Maine estate sale late in 2016. We still have quite a bit of material from that sale to share including pastel portraits and watercolors. Some of them are quite well-done.

The portraits have some striking elements including the lighting on the face below and the treatment of the eye in the second. Interestingly, the first portrait hints at the way Quirk executed hair. First filling it in with dark in entirety, then laying down color and highlights on top of it. In this portrait, judging by the hairline, it appears to be more of an afterthought. 

Pastel Portrait by Francis Quirk

Pastel Portrait by Francis Quirk

The figure studies were probably executed during his academic training- perhaps at the Rhode Island School of Design. The second appears to have some issues in the relative size of the leg. We include them for completeness and to provide some insights into his training.

Pastel Figure Study by Francis Quirk

Pastel Figure Study by Francis Quirk

Pastel Figure Study by Francis J. Quirk