Frances Foy (April 11, 1890 – 1963) was an American painter, muralist, illustrator, and etcher born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

, where she continued studying with Reynolds as well as with

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

and Fred Schook. Foy completed commercial work and began to exhibit her work in many venues in the 1920s, including the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists, Chicago Woman's Aid, the Romany Club, and the Art Institute of Chicago. She and her classmates were active in Chicago's progressive movement in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1928, she and her husband,

Gustaf Dalstrom Gustaf Dalstrom (1893–1971) was an American artist and muralist. From 1927, he served as president of the Chicago Society of Artists. During the Great Depression he contributed several mural paintings to public schools and post offices through ...

, traveled with other artists to Europe, where she was directly exposed to European modernists. She was a member of the

Chicago Society of Artists The Chicago Society of Artists is a non-profit organization. The "CSA is the oldest continuing association of artists in the United States. Since its inception and incorporation in 1889, the Chicago Society of Artists has had two primary objectives ...

and served on the technical committee of the Federal

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal work-relief program that employed professional artists to create sculptures, paintings, crafts and design for public buildings and parks during the Great Depression in the United States. The ...

Family life

She married fellow artist and her mentor,

, in 1923. They settled in the

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

area of Chicago and often painted scenes of community life, including the

Lincoln Park Zoo Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868 and is the second oldest zoo in the United States. It is also one of a small number of zoos to offer fr ...

and neighborhood schoolchildren.

Murals

Foy received commissions for murals through the

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

, later called the

Section of Fine Arts Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

, of the United States Treasury Department.University of Central Arkansas.
Arkansas Post Office Murals
.Carlisle, John C., “A Simple and Vital Design: The Story of the Indiana Post Office Murals”, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1995 p.34-35 In 1943, Foy painted two murals in the

West Allis, Wisconsin West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Wis ...

post office, ''Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Spring'' and ''Wisconsin Wild Flowers – Autumn''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foy, Frances 1890 births 1963 deaths American modern painters School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American muralists American women illustrators 20th-century American illustrators 20th-century American etchers American women printmakers 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters American women muralists Section of Painting and Sculpture artists Women etchers