Frances Foy

Frances Foy (April 11, 1890 - 1963) was an American painter, muralist, illustrator, and etcher born in Chicago, Illinois.

Career

Foy began studying art with Wellington J. Reynolds at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she continued studying with Reynolds as well as with George Bellows and Fred Schook.^[1][2] Foy completed commercial work and began to exhibit her work in many venues in the 1920s, including Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago Woman's Aid, the Romany Club, and the Art Institute of Chicago.^[3] She and other classmates were active in Chicago's progressive movement in the 1920s and 1930s.^[3] In 1928, she and husband Gustaf Dalstrom traveled with other artists to Europe, where she was directly exposed to European modernists.^[3] She was a member of the Chicago Society of Artists and served on the technical committee of the Federal Public Works of Art Project.

Family life

She married fellow artist and her mentor, Gustaf Dalstrom, in 1923. They settled in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago and often painted scenes of community life, including the Lincoln Park Zoo and neighborhood schoolchildren.^[3] In the 1930s the couple collaboratively illustrated an anatomy book.

Murals

Hiawatha Returning with Minnehaha

Foy receive commissions for murals through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the United States Treasury Department. Executed between 1934 and 1943, the murals were intended to boost the morale of the American people from the effects of the Depression by depicting uplifting subjects the people knew and loved. Murals were commissioned through competitions open to all artists in the United States.^[4] Almost 850 artists were commissioned to paint 1371 murals, most of which were installed in post offices, libraries, and other public buildings.^[5] Among the artists, 162 were women. The murals were funded as a part of the cost of the construction with 1% of the cost set aside for artistic enhancements.^[5]

Beginning with The Letter for the East Alton, Illinois post office in 1936 and Hiawatha Returning with Minnehaha in Gibson City, Illinois in 1937, Foy painted several post office murals under the auspices of the U.S. Treasury Department’s New Deal relief programs. In 1938 she was commissioned to the Chestnut Street Postal Station in Chicago, Illinois and painted the oil on canvas Advent of the Pioneers, 1851 which is still on display at Chicago's Main post office. For the post office in Dunkirk, Indiana Foy painted Preparations for Autumn Festival, Dunkirk in 1941.^[6] In 1943, Foy painted two murals in the West Allis, Wisconsin post office, Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Spring and Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Autumn.

Papers

The artist's papers are preserved along with Gustaf Dalstrom’s in the collection of the Archives of American Art.

References

1. McGlauflin, ed. (1937). Who’s Who in American Art 1938-1939 2. Washington D.C.: American Federation of Arts.
2. Petteys, Chris, ‘’Dictionary of Women Artists: An international dictionary of women ratites born before 1900’’, G.K. Hall & Co., Boston, 1985
3. "Frances Foy | Artists | Modernism in the New City: Chicago Artists, 1920-1950". www.chicagomodern.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
4. Rediscovering the People's Art: New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania’s Post Offices". Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission: 2014.
5. University of Central Arkansas. "Arkansas Post Office Murals".
6. Carlisle, John C., “A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals”, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995 p.34-35