Frederic Whitaker (1891–1980) was an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and author.

Biography

Born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

, Frederic Whitaker began his working career as an apprentice designer with W. J. Feeley and Co., manufacturers of metal-ware, where he soon rose to head of design. He went on to work with

Gorham Manufacturing Company The Gorham Manufacturing Company was one of the largest American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture. History Gorham Silver was founded in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island by Jabez Gorham, a master cr ...

and Tiffany & Co., both noted producers of fine silver, and later bought and built up two companies on his own, Foley and Dugan in Providence and G.H. Seffert in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. During this time Whitaker was also actively painting, working mainly in

watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

, and in 1949 he retired from business to devote all his attention to painting, writing, and art-related

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

activities. Whitaker was a member of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, served seven years as president of the

American Watercolor Society The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

, and founded

Audubon Artists The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

, whose purpose is to speak for all aspects of the visual arts. He also served on numerous other boards and organizations. Whitaker also wrote two books and more than 90 articles on art-related topics. Whitaker's wife Eileen Monaghan Whitaker, married in 1943, was also a painter of note -- a member of the

, the recipient of many awards, and in 1978 she became the second woman elected to the

's watercolor division. The couple often exhibited their work in joint shows.

Awards

Over his career Whitaker received more than 150 awards from art organizations across the United States, among them the

Horatio Alger Award The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to promote and ensure the American Dream for future generations, honor the achievements of outstanding Un ...

, and was made a Fellow of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. His work is in the permanent collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and the Hispanic Museum, as well as museums and galleries from California to Connecticut.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Whitaker on Watercolor'' (1963) * ''A Guide to Painting Better Pictures'' (1965) * ''Puzinas'' (Austra Publications, New York, 1975)
The Frederic Whitaker and Eileen Monaghan Whitaker Foundation

External links

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Frederic 1891 births 1980 deaths Artists from Providence, Rhode Island 20th-century American painters American male painters National Academy of Design members 20th-century American male artists