(1885-1926)
Frank-Myers Boggs was born in Springfield, Ohio on December 6, 1855 and died in Meudon (Hauts- de-Seine), France August 8, 1926. He was a painter, watercolorist and engraver. Boggs is an American-expatriate from the French.
As a young boy he moved to New York, where his father was a newspaper executive. Boggs began his career as a wood engraver and prepared illustrations for Harper-Weekly. He also studied briefly under the portraitist John Barnard Whittaker. However, Frank Myers Boggs spent both his formative and mature years abroad.
He received his formal training at the Beaux-Arts Academie under Jean Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) in Paris. Boggs regularly exhibited at the Salon des Artists Francais where he was awarded Hors Concours (exceptional). At the Universal Exposition of 1889, Frank-Myers Boggs was awarded the Silver medal.
In the late 1880’s, Boggs was acquainted with the Impressionists Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir and Eugene Boudin, but his affinity for marine subjects, his use of somber tonal palette and restrained Impressionist technique better reflect his admiration for the Dutch marine painter Johann Barthold Jongkind, whom he met in Paris at the same time.
Boggs loved France which is witnessed through his atmospheric paintings of its streets, ports, and monuments. His paintings and watercolors placed the viewer on the banks of the Seine on a windy, stormy rain soaked day or on a cloudy spring day at the Marche de Puse. You may also find yourself walking through a small village just outside of Paris, ankle deep in the snow. He used Notre-Dame as a backdrop, as viewed looking up the Seine from quai de Bercy or down the Seine from Pont Royal. His spontaneous paintings lead you on a journey through Paris, down the grand boulevards and past the tour Eiffel. You walk by Les Halles and down the Seine by l’ancien Trocadero. He places you in the middle of the busy Place de Concorde looking up the Champs-Elysees at the Arc de Triomphe and then to the noisy train station. Boggs exposes his romance with Paris and France through the eyes of an artist having an affair. Boggs also painted Holland, Venice and Belgium. He painted the Ports in Normandy and La Rochelle. He found inspiration from quaint villages and markets.
The Boston Museum purchased the prize-winning painting “la Houle d’Honfleur” by Boggs’s for $2,500 at the 1885 Universal Exposition exhibition in New York.
Throughout the decade of 1890-1900 Frank Myers Boggs traveled extensively in Europe. He exhibited at the Paris Salon, at most of the international expositions, and in major cities in the United States and in Europe.
Museum Exhibitions:
Montreal Museum
Mulhouse
Nantes
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Boston Fine Art Museum
Luxembourg Museum