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August Franzen
1863–1938
BirthplaceNorrköping, Sweden
Death placeNew York, New York, United States of America
BiographyAdept at painting in both watercolors and oils, Swedish-born artist August Franzen became a successful portraitist in his adopted country. Franzen was born and raised near Norrköping, a Baltic coastal city. At the age of twelve he began a three-year apprenticeship with a local artist, and he attended a drawing school in the evenings. He then studied in Stockholm with several artists including Carl Larsson (1853–1919), later famed for his precise, charming scenes in watercolors of ordinary Swedish life.
In 1881 Franzen left Sweden to advance his career. In Paris, then the art capital of the western world, he enrolled in the private Académie Julian, a popular school that attracted many international students. His teachers were the conservative figure painters William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) and Tony Robert-Fleury (1837–1911). Franzen also attended an evening drawing class conducted by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929), painter of highly popular rural peasant subjects. In the United States, Franzen toured California and worked in Chicago on an ambitious cyclorama (a large-scale painting-in-the-round) of the Battle of Gettysburg conceived by Paul Philippoteaux (active ca. 1850–76), a French-born painter of historical scenes.
Following his return to Paris from the United States in 1886, Franzen enrolled in another private school, the Académie Colarossi, and spent his summers traveling in Europe. Among his destinations was the rural village of Grez-sur-Loing, some seventy kilometers southeast of Paris, where Scandinavian artists, including Franzen's former teacher Carl Larsson, numbered among an international colony of artists who were experimenting with new techniques for capturing outdoor light and atmosphere in their paintings. Franzen's landscapes and genre scenes (images of everyday life) painted in Grez met with success among French and English collectors. They were equally popular in New York City, where Franzen settled in 1890; among his buyers was fellow-artist Julian Alden Weir, an advocate for contemporary subject matter and newer approaches to outdoor painting. Franzen's intention was to establish himself as a portrait painter, however, and over the next three decades he received numerous important commissions.
A member of the Society of American Artists beginning in 1892, Franzen was elected to associate status in the conservative National Academy of Design in 1906 and to full membership in 1920. In 1905 he led a group of artists in erecting a cooperative studio building, the Gainsborough Studios (named for the famed eighteenth-century English painter), which still stands on New York's Central Park South. Franzen traveled widely to undertake commissions and he enjoyed considerable success, although he is little-known today. In addition to portraits, he also painted landscapes during summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he purchased a home, and in Europe, to which he returned several times in the 1920s.
In 1881 Franzen left Sweden to advance his career. In Paris, then the art capital of the western world, he enrolled in the private Académie Julian, a popular school that attracted many international students. His teachers were the conservative figure painters William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) and Tony Robert-Fleury (1837–1911). Franzen also attended an evening drawing class conducted by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929), painter of highly popular rural peasant subjects. In the United States, Franzen toured California and worked in Chicago on an ambitious cyclorama (a large-scale painting-in-the-round) of the Battle of Gettysburg conceived by Paul Philippoteaux (active ca. 1850–76), a French-born painter of historical scenes.
Following his return to Paris from the United States in 1886, Franzen enrolled in another private school, the Académie Colarossi, and spent his summers traveling in Europe. Among his destinations was the rural village of Grez-sur-Loing, some seventy kilometers southeast of Paris, where Scandinavian artists, including Franzen's former teacher Carl Larsson, numbered among an international colony of artists who were experimenting with new techniques for capturing outdoor light and atmosphere in their paintings. Franzen's landscapes and genre scenes (images of everyday life) painted in Grez met with success among French and English collectors. They were equally popular in New York City, where Franzen settled in 1890; among his buyers was fellow-artist Julian Alden Weir, an advocate for contemporary subject matter and newer approaches to outdoor painting. Franzen's intention was to establish himself as a portrait painter, however, and over the next three decades he received numerous important commissions.
A member of the Society of American Artists beginning in 1892, Franzen was elected to associate status in the conservative National Academy of Design in 1906 and to full membership in 1920. In 1905 he led a group of artists in erecting a cooperative studio building, the Gainsborough Studios (named for the famed eighteenth-century English painter), which still stands on New York's Central Park South. Franzen traveled widely to undertake commissions and he enjoyed considerable success, although he is little-known today. In addition to portraits, he also painted landscapes during summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he purchased a home, and in Europe, to which he returned several times in the 1920s.