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Frederick
E. Conway
1900-1973
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Signature
of Frederick E. Conway
TE photo, April 2009 |
Artist’s Bio It
would be hard to find an artist more connected to his native city. Born in 1900
in St. Louis Missouri, Frederick Conway graduated from high school and briefly
worked in Chicago before returning home to take art lessons from a local sculptor.
He then made the artist’s obligatory trip to Europe, studying in France and visiting
North Africa. He returned to enroll at St. Louis’ Washington University School
of Fine Arts, joining the faculty there in 1924.
Regarded as one of the
most prolific and successful artists in St. Louis, he began his career submitting
sketches for Federal projects, winning his first commission with the mural shown
here – The
Round-up which was installed at the Purcell, Oklahoma post office in 1940. |
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He participated in
the 48 States Mural Competition of 1939 and he later did The Birth of
Oklahoma, a Tulsa mural for which he was paid $25,000 – the highest price
paid for a mural at that time.
Conway worked in a variety of media and
gradually shifted his style from realism toward abstract art, but he never differentiated
between painting and teaching, thus forging lifelong bonds with his students.
His
relationship with Washington University’s School of the Fine Arts was to last
for 46 years. He was made Professor Emeritus and left the school in 1970, dying
of cancer three years later. | |
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