Frank William Boggs (frank Will): 1900 - 1951 Original Watercolor The Port Of Rouen

Franck Will Or Frank William Boggs: THE PORT OF ROUEN Signed lower right Frank Will - Rouen - Watercolor H 44 cm x W 58 cm at sight. Presented under glass in a modern frame H 59 cm x W 72.5 cm. Very good state. Frank William Boggs, better known as Frank-Will, was born in 1900 in Nanterre, to the painter Frank Myers Boggs and Joséphine Gaintza. From the age of ten, young Frank developed a passion for painting, helped by his father's predispositions and the constant contact he had with his father's works. Frank learned to paint alone, his father refusing to instruct him. The young artist created landscapes of the surroundings of their new home in Antouillet in 1916. It was shortly after that he began studying architecture, which he quickly abandoned in order to devote himself entirely to painting. In addition to this passion for painting, he played the hunting horn, an instrument which allowed him to meet Gen Paul, whom he introduced to music and with whom he traveled around Paris to play and paint. Alongside his Parisian life, he frequently went on vacation during the 1920s and 1930s to paint typical motifs. He married in 1936 and moved to Mantes, while running a gallery in Le Tréport in the summer. However, he ends up leaving his wife in order to reconnect with his bohemian life in Montmartre. Neglecting his health, spendthrift and victim of his excesses, he ended up dying following an operation, after being hit by a bus at Place de l'Opéra in Paris. A detailed tour of Paris, which he explored with his faithful friend Gen Paul, constitutes his first favorite theme. However, his vacations are also an opportunity for the artist to paint on the motif, and this is how we find Normandy in 1922, La Rochelle in 1926, Amiens in 1929, Barfleur in 1930. It is there that he attached himself to the theme of large sailing ships, these galleons which he loved and which remained one of his recurring themes, even sometimes in compositions of imaginary naval battles. It was then, with a friend he met at the Henri Bureau gallery, Marcel Leprin, that he visited Moret-sur-Loing, Auxerre and Avallon. This monitoring makes it possible to establish an extremely precise corpus of his works and leaves little room for doubt and interpretation. As for his style, it can be described as post-impressionist, quite popular, typical of the painters of La Butte although his latest works tend towards a certain expressionism. A neglected career Frank Will had a few official gallery owners and exhibited regularly in Paris. This is how we find his works at Georges Petit, Hector Brame, who was also his father's gallery owner, and at the Henri Bureau gallery in particular. His works were also presented in group exhibitions after his death, notably “Montmartre from yesteryear to today” at the Madeleine Horst Gallery, in 1951, “Landscape in art: Henri Marret, Frank Boggs, Frank-Will, André Dunoyer de Segonzac” at the Museum of Art and History of Meudon in 1981 and more recently in 2015-2016, “The Mantais landscapes inspire artists”, at the Hôtel-Dieu Museum in Mantes-la-Jolie. Naturally given such a career, his works are part of public collections, and his paintings can be found at the Lambinet Museum in Versailles, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Menton, but also in international museums such as the Musée du Petit Palais de Genève and the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando, Florida.