Jerry Farnsworth
American, 1895 - 1983
Raised by his widowed mother in the northwestern-most corner of Georgia, Jerry Farnsworth was not exposed to the great wonders of art and culture until he strayed from his sheltered home as a young man. At twenty years old, he viewed a fine art exhibition for the first time while visiting a friend at the National Academy. Until then uninspired by a future career and unmotivated to find direction, Farnsworth was struck by a resounding eureka moment when he reflected: “Well, it might be nice to try something like that.” He went on to enroll in a painting course for the steep cost of $12.50. His mother kindly paid for the class from her meager wages, but regrettably told her son that she could offer no further assistance.
Inspired by his new raison d’etre, Farnsworth recounted in a 1956 Sarasota Herald Tribune interview that his family never paid more than this $12.50; he paid his way by working diligently as a studio assistant for the rest of his education. His painting ethic held a similar determination, and Farnsworth lived by the self-proven credo that “anyone can learn to paint,” believing that it was his fine art education and not an innate talent that made him a successful artist. While serving in the Navy during World War I, he was fortunate to be stationed in Washington, D.C. and was able to take night courses at the Corcoran School of Art. During the nineteen-teens, Farnsworth then studied under the New England figure painter Charles Hawthorne, who was immense in shaping his career. Farnsworth worked with this great role model at his Cape Cod School of Art and was even a monitor for his classes. Faced by his instructor’s often bighting, frank criticism and the challenge of painting the figure out-of-doors, Farnsworth learned to find the homely beauty in everyday things and to rely upon his observations of color rather than on preconceived notions of shape. Just over ten years later, Farnsworth would open his own school of painting on Cape Cod and Sarasota, adding his name to the South Shore colony’s heritage of fine instructors.
Farnsworth not only advanced his painting skills during Hawthorne’s summer course, but met his future wife, his classmate Helen Sawyer. The two painters taught together for over 30 years, first at the Farnsworth Summer School in Wellfleet (1933-1937), then at a brief Provincetown location (1938-1939) and ultimately in Truro, beginning in 1940. The couple also established a winter sister school in Sarasota, Florida, operating at this location from 1943-1963. Instructing nearly 2,000 students over the course of his career, Farnworth’s edification of painters and fine art enthusiasts reached even further abroad with the publication of his three instructional painting texts. He also regularly published articles for American Artist and taught figure painting privately as well as formally at the Art Students League (1926, 1927) and at the Grand Central School of Art (1936). A frequent national exhibitor at such prestigious venues as the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Galleries and the Art Institute of Chicago, Farnsworth was made a full member of the National Academy in 1935. By 1970, his works were so highly regarded that they were housed in over thirty museums throughout the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts.
Inspired by his new raison d’etre, Farnsworth recounted in a 1956 Sarasota Herald Tribune interview that his family never paid more than this $12.50; he paid his way by working diligently as a studio assistant for the rest of his education. His painting ethic held a similar determination, and Farnsworth lived by the self-proven credo that “anyone can learn to paint,” believing that it was his fine art education and not an innate talent that made him a successful artist. While serving in the Navy during World War I, he was fortunate to be stationed in Washington, D.C. and was able to take night courses at the Corcoran School of Art. During the nineteen-teens, Farnsworth then studied under the New England figure painter Charles Hawthorne, who was immense in shaping his career. Farnsworth worked with this great role model at his Cape Cod School of Art and was even a monitor for his classes. Faced by his instructor’s often bighting, frank criticism and the challenge of painting the figure out-of-doors, Farnsworth learned to find the homely beauty in everyday things and to rely upon his observations of color rather than on preconceived notions of shape. Just over ten years later, Farnsworth would open his own school of painting on Cape Cod and Sarasota, adding his name to the South Shore colony’s heritage of fine instructors.
Farnsworth not only advanced his painting skills during Hawthorne’s summer course, but met his future wife, his classmate Helen Sawyer. The two painters taught together for over 30 years, first at the Farnsworth Summer School in Wellfleet (1933-1937), then at a brief Provincetown location (1938-1939) and ultimately in Truro, beginning in 1940. The couple also established a winter sister school in Sarasota, Florida, operating at this location from 1943-1963. Instructing nearly 2,000 students over the course of his career, Farnworth’s edification of painters and fine art enthusiasts reached even further abroad with the publication of his three instructional painting texts. He also regularly published articles for American Artist and taught figure painting privately as well as formally at the Art Students League (1926, 1927) and at the Grand Central School of Art (1936). A frequent national exhibitor at such prestigious venues as the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Galleries and the Art Institute of Chicago, Farnsworth was made a full member of the National Academy in 1935. By 1970, his works were so highly regarded that they were housed in over thirty museums throughout the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts.
A native of Dalton, Georgia, Jerry Farnsworth received his art training at the Corcoran Art School in Washington, D.C. (1917-19), later studying with Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, Massachusetts. A highly respected painter and art instructor, Farnsworth was elected a full academician of the National Academy of Design in 1935. His work was widely exhibited, appearing in such institutions as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute, Toledo Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 1933, he founded the Farnsworth School of Art in both Sarasota, Florida and North Truro, Massachusetts.
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
