“the Port Of Honfleur” Frank Will (1900 - 1950)

FRANK-WILL, pseudonym of Boggs Frank William Born March 13, 1900 in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). Died December 29, 1950. Painter of urban landscapes, seascapes, watercolorist. Post-Impressionist. Son of the painter Frank Myers Boggs, known as Frank-Boggs, he was his student. He abandoned his studies in architecture to devote himself to painting. A typical Montmartre figure, he was particularly close to Gen-Paul and Leprin. In 1922, he made his first trip to the Normandy coast. Other trips: 1926-1927 La Rochelle, 1929 Amiens, 1930 Barfleur. From 1929, the Georges Petit gallery exhibited him permanently. He then exhibited at Hector Brame, his father's dealer, then under contract with Henri Bureau. With Leprin, he visited Moret-sur-Loing, Auxerre, Avallon. In 1943, he participated in the fanfare created by Gen-Paul: La Chignole. Very affected by alcohol, he could not bear the operation for a pulmonary abscess. He signed successively: in 1916 Frank, 1916 Franque, 1918 William Frank, 1920 Franck-Will, finally Frank-Will; from 1936 to 1939, he used the pseudonym: Naudin. He is best known for his Parisian watercolors. He took up very exactly, in an intensive manner, the subjects, the technique and the manner of his father, which were very successful with the general public. The work, plethoric, repetitive, is uneven. It evolves between a populist post-impressionism, quite typically Montmartre, and flashes of a violent expressionism, which could have tended towards the tragic. Works can be found in museums: Menello Museum of American Art Orlando Florida, Limay, Beaux-Arts de Menton, Art and History Meudon, Saint Malo, Versailles etc ... Watercolor mounted on panel (bites on the paper enlarged the photos) signed lower left and located Honfleur. Format on view: 48 x 64 cm with frame: 64 x 79 cm