Francis Quirk and the Lehigh University Art Gallery

Lehigh University has a long history with art dating back to its first exhibit in 1865 when the institution was founded by businessman Asa Packer. For the first twenty years the school was free, but tuition was eventually instated due to financing challenges.While it seems odd now, the school did not become coeducational until the 1971-72 academic year.

The Lehigh University Art Department was established in 1926 and run by Garth Howland who studied Moravian Architecture and brought in guest artists as teachers during World War II.

In 1950, Quirk was hired as an Associate Professor; succeeding Howland and initially teaching an art appreciation course. In 1953 he was promoted to full Professor. He also is listed that same year as Director of Exhibits and became Curator of the Collection in 1959. In addition to his work with the collection, he was also a professor of Fine Art. In 1957, he is listed as Chairman of the Department of Fine Arts. In 1962, he won the University's Lindbeck Award for distinguished teaching. He retired from the school in 1969.

Francis Quirk discussing a painting with philanthropist Ralph L. Wilson   Courtesy of a Lehigh University Photographic Collection

Quirk also worked to groom donors and build the collection. These include Ralph Wilson who would later give several important paintings including works by Warhol, Prendergast, Matisse, Marsden Hartley, Ellsworth Kelly, Glackens and others.

Portrait of Mrs. Edith King by Maurice Prendergast  Image Courtesy of Lehigh University Art Gallery

A Summer Rain by Charles Burchfield  Image Courtesy of Lehigh University Art Gallery

Nude Dressing Hair by William Glackens   Image Courtesy of Lehigh University Art Gallery

Like any University or Department thereof, the leader takes on what is there from the predecessor, molds it and then leaves it for the following leader to begin the remolding process anew. One thing is clear. And that is that Quirk left a fine foundation for those of them to build upon.

The Lehigh University Art Gallery (LUAG) was established in the 1980's by Professor Ricardo Viera and is the Teaching Museum at Lehigh University. LUAG maintains and develops the university’s world-class art collection, which now numbers over 13,000 objects, presenting exhibitions in seven galleries located throughout Lehigh’s three campuses. The collection and exhibition schedule is extensive.

More than twenty exhibitions a year introduce students and the community to current topics in art, architecture, history, science, and technology. The exhibition schedule is supplemented by lectures, films, workshops, and research opportunities in the teaching collection. The galleries occupy exhibition, storage, office and workshop space in several campus locations. The Main Gallery and Lower Gallery teaching collection exhibitions are in the Zoellner Arts Center. Other galleries are: DuBois Gallery, Maginnes Hall; the Gallery at Rauch Business Center; Girdler Student Gallery, University Center; and Siegel Gallery, Iacocca Hall on the Mountaintop Campus. The Muriel and Philip Berman Sculpture Gardens are located on Memorial Walkway, Mountaintop Campus, and Saucon Fields on the Murray H. Goodman Campus. The Ralph L. Wilson Study Gallery is located in Building J, Mountaintop Campus and available by appointment.

You can find a list of current exhibitions here.

Francis Quirk and The Still Life

In our research on Francis Quirk we have found remarkably little in the still life genre. He does include plants, coffee cups and books in his portraits, but we have only found this one still life. A pastel that was auctioned in Maine late in 2016.

He does capture the reflections in the bowl nicely and, of course, the massive drapery.

Pastel Still Life by Francis J. Quirk

Francis Quirk Profiled as a Dynamo in 1951 Lehigh University Alumni Bulletin

Cover Model and Artist Francis Quirk is featured on the Lehigh Alumni Bulletin

The Smithsonian Institution graciously provided materials from their file on Francis Quirk. In it was a fascinating cover profile piece in the October 1951 issue of the Lehigh Alumni Bulletin. It describes Quirk and his impressive accomplishments in his first year at the school. Here are a few of his year one accomplishments.

• Leading a Committee to create gallery space that delivered its recommendation report 24 hours after formation
• Began an inventory of the art on Cam,pus
• Getting the Gallery Space in Memorial Hall open
• Starting an Art Loan Program
• Accepting two significant painting donations from Ralph Wilson (this would be the beginning of a significant relationship)
• Expanding the Art Curriculum
• Innovating new schedules to increase use of the Art Studios
• Implementing an Art Piece of the Week Program that highlights a student work of note with public display
• Executing 6 paintings and 12 portraits

A campus observer describes him as a man  who can  "ride off in four directions at the same time and  get  to all  of them."

A quote about Quirk mentions his love of Maine and boats.

"People, next to Maine, boats, dogs, and children, are the most  exciting things on  earth-   except of   course,   Art."

To access the full document you can click here.

Francis Quirk Image Library

We have accumulated images of all the known  oil paintings of Francis Quirk that we have been able to locate and placed them into a slideshare presentation. (The University of Notre Dame Snite Museum does not allow reproductions of their works to be shared. Thus their holding is not included.)

We know that there are many other works out there as a profile in the Lehigh University Alumni Magazine from 1951 mentions that he executed 6 canvases and over a dozen portraits in the previous year. You can visit the Image Library Presentation through this link.

Nautical or Maritime Watercolor Paintings by Francis Quirk

We had a rather extensive backlog of images of Francis J. Quirk's watercolors that we had not shared. These images come from works that were auctioned in Maine in September of 2016.

The watercolors vary in subject matter and style. The first two of Mary in the boatyard contain considerable detail.Others are less detailed with one executed in a cubist style. They were probably executed during his summers at Peterspen North, his home in the Kinney Shores area of Saco, Maine.

The painting with the boat passing the lighthouse appears to have similar coast to an oil painting that was recently auctioned in Maine. 

The final image is of a pencil sketch of a yacht race that he only began to fill in with paint. We included it as it showed his working method. 

Scraping the Lobste Boat Mary Maine Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Lobsterboat Maintenance Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Sailboat Watercolor Painting by Francis J. Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Maritime Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Pencil Sketch of Incomplete Sailboat Race Watercolor by Francis Quirk

Twenty Five Year Old Francis Quirk Honored With Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in 1932

The biographies of Francis Quirk list him as having had a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, but we wondered ‘what did this mean exactly?’ As we looked into it we were more and more impressed with this accomplishment.  

After some hunting, we learned that some of the Foundation’s papers were at the Archives of American Art near the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. When we visited the facility a lovely young woman, Meghan from West Virginia was extremely helpful in providing the microfilm and teaching how to use the machine. Even with her expert guidance, the process of scrolling through the microfilm was headache inducing, but ultimately well worth the effort.

Louis Comfort Tiffany- Creator of the Foundation

The famous glassmaker and pioneer in decorative arts, Louis Comfort Tiffany established the Tiffany Foundation in 1919. The idea behind it was that it would help young artisans of talent by giving them the opportunity to hone their craft at his 80 acre estate Laurelton Hall in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In 1932 he would add a gallery at 65 -67 East 56^th Street in New York City to display and sell their works. The combination would hopefully accelerate their careers.

Concord Minuteman Statue by Daniel Chester French

Abraham Lincoln Sculpture by Daniel Chester French

The Fellowships were open only to men older than 20 and younger than 30. These talented artisans were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants by a panel of experts that included luminaries such as Daniel Chester French who sculpted sitting Abe in the Lincoln Memorial and impressionist painter Childe Hassam. 

Rainy Day Boston by Childe Hassam Toledo Museum of Art

Fellows were admitted in two groups of five who were at Laurelton for a 3 month periods; either May to July or August through October. They were provided with meals and had full access to the facilities including the tennis, bowling and squash court. There were restrictions on what they could paint or sculpt in that they were to focus on “landscape and decorative composition” as Tiffany felt they could learn more in this fashion “than by working from the human figure.”

In scrolling through the documents there were numerous pages of minutes from Board meetings. Interestingly, during the intervening century the nature of minutes has not changed that much. They were strikingly similar to the minutes of companies and non-profits that I am involved with today. One fascinating aside was the companies that the foundation was invested in- they included the Atchinson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and American Tobacco.

But the minutes contained no references to our man Francis Quirk. But then eventually we came to pamphlets about the program and they listed the awardees. After looking through about 10 of the pamphlets- Eureka! There was Francis J. Quirk on the Fellows list in 1932. He would have been 25 years old and on his way! Beyond that mention, we found no other references to the Mid-Century Master.

The research made one thing clear- that Francis Quirk had received a significant honor in winning the Tiffany Fellowship. The reviewers look at thousands of paintings from hundreds of candidates each year.

There was one additional find in the microfilm in a document that was marked “Confidential” It appears that the Tiffany Foundation was contracted in World War 2 to develop Camouflage technology. The contract ran from 1942-1948.

You can learn more about the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation here. You also can see many items from Laurelton Hall at the wonderful Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida. 

Portrait of Woman in Turquoise by Francis J. Quirk Emerges in Chula Vista California

There has been a striking amount of activity around the work of Francis Quirk in the last few months. We do not know the reason for it, but it certainly is keeping this blog busy.  

The beautiful portrait below is for sale through EBay from a firm in Chula Vista, California. The oil on canvas measures 30"x25" and is signed Francis J. Quirk in a script signature and dated 1944. He would have been 37 at the time it was painted. 

The woman is impeccably groomed in an aqua dress, sitting in a yellow upholstered chair with a vase full of beautiful peonies blooming beside her. This portrait is one of softer tones with the pale blue background and a lavender tint to the peonies. There is nothing jarring or popping at the eye. 

Woman in Turquoise by Francis J. Quirk 1944

This woman is no shrinking violet. She is firmly holding our gaze with those bright green eyes.  But, let us examine some of the wonderful details that show she is a woman of some means. Look at the jewelry. The pearl earrings are sizable. There is a significant diamond broach at her conservative neckline.  Yet, there is even more.

Woman in Turquoise by Francis J. Quirk 1944

On her left and there is a substantial diamond on her ring finger along with a watch. Hidden in the shadows of the right hand appears to be a significant emerald on the smallest finger. And of course the nails are beautifully manicured. Not only are they painted red, but also they glisten and shine, like the blood in Eakins Gross Clinic. Those nails also match the lipstick perfectly.

The color also tells us something about the woman sitting for the portrait. She chose red. Not pink. Not plain, Not clear. But bright red.

Yet there is one more significant detail in the book. If you look closely at the finish of the pages it is in the color gold. This is no cheap paperback she is reading. Nor is it a nice hardcover novel. She is reading a book that was prepared to be seen on a bookshelf in a library; bound and finished so that it denotes quality. 

Close up of hands of portrait in Woman in Turquoise by Francis J. Quirk 1944

The close up below shows one of the subtle but attractive elements of this painting in the reflection of the vase in the table's wood surface. Even though it is a decorative element, it gets the full attention of the painter. The painting of the leaves is exquisite as well.

Close up of lower left hand corner of portrait in Woman in Turquoise by Francis J. Quirk 1944

We end with one more image. The signature of Francis J. Quirk executed in script with the date 1944. He too is not shy about his signature signing in a bold blue script that blends with the colors of the painting. 

Signature of Francis J. Quirk 1944