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Ad Code: 3
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An example of work by Donald Beauregard
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| A highly promising portrait, landscape, mural, and still life painter,
Donald Beauregard died young from cancer, at age thirty one.
He
was born in Fillmore, Utah, the son of Mormon pioneers who were
ranchers, and he lived the ranch life of a cowboy until he was
sixteen. He first studied art at age 11 from a visiting teacher
from the East. His first works that got public attention were
drop curtains for local theatre productions, and his first recognized
oil painting, The Fillmore Flour Mill, has been on permanent exhibition at the territorial capital building in his home town.
By
1900, he decided to leave Fillmore. He traveled for a year and
then enrolled at Brigham Young University until 1903, when he started
classes at the University of Utah with Edwin Evans whose assistant he
became. Evans described Beauregard as a "brilliant student"
(Swanson, 99). In 1905, Beauregard won first prize at the Utah
Art Institute exhibit.
From 1906 to 1908, he studied at the
Julian Academy in Paris, a pupil of Jean Paul Laurens, and his first
year won first prize for "technical composition" in a school
contest. In the classroom, he excellent in depicting nude
figures. He spent his summers touring Europe and especially loved
Flemish scenes of coastal views, landscapes, and genre, which he later
made into paintings from his sketches. He became much influenced
by Monet and French Impressionism.
Returning to Utah in 1908, he
was director of art for Ogden Public Schools and spent his summers,
1909 and 1910, with University archaeological expeditions exploring the
relics of the Franciscan Monks in Arizona and New Mexico and reporting
for the Deseret News and Western Monthly Magazine.
The Director of that project was Professor Byron Cummings, and
Beauregard was with him in the Southwest when he met Edgar Hewitt,
Director of Archaeological exhibits for the 1915 Panama-Pacific
Exposition in San Francisco.
Through Hewitt, Beauregard became
associated with lawyer Frank Springer, an arts patron, who was very
taken with the artist's work and supported him on another trip to
Europe where he went to Spain, France and Germany, and became
especially interested in the painting of Gauguin and Cezanne as well as
Cubism. These influences led to paintings with elements of
abstraction and rich color, and these works sold well in the United
States.
Springer was impressed by the artist's success and
commissioned him to do murals of the life of St. Francis of Assisi,
patron saint of the Southwest, for the Panama-California Exposition of
1915 in San Francisco. Beauregard researched extensively for this
work including trips to Washington DC and Spain, but during this time
began to suffer from terminal cancer in 1913, and was only able to
complete two of the murals. But he did finish the overall
designs, and Carlos Vierra and Kenneth Chapman completed the murals
from his drawings.
Beauregard died at the home of his parent's
on May 2, 1914. The most extensive collection of Beauregard's
work is owned by the Museum of New Mexico at Santa Fe.
Source:
Peggy and Harold Samuels, Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West
Vern Swanson, Robert Olpin, William Seifrit, Utah Art | |
Biography from Anthony's Fine Art:
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Donald Beauregard was born 1884 in Fillmore, Utah, the son of a rancher. His family recognized his artistic talent early, and he had his first art lesson at the age of eleven by an eastern teacher who was visiting central Utah. Beauregard felt confined in Fillmore, and in 1900, he left town, wandering for a while and then ending up at Brigham Young University. He studied there until 1903. During this year, he left BYU and continued his education at the University of Utah, studying under Edwin Evans for three years and becoming his assistant in 1904. In 1906, Beauregard graduated from the University with high honors. Evans said, "He was a brilliant student who excelled in every phase of academic work." Beauregard demonstrated his versatility by winning honors in art, oration, and debate.
In this same year of 1906, he saved his money until he could afford to travel to Europe, where he studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. While in Paris, Beauregard won many prizes for his work, including a first prize, with the work becoming part of the school's permanent collection. He financed his stay by writing special features and by drawing cartoons for newspapers. Beauregard made many discoveries about art while in Paris. At first, he followed Monet and the Impressionists and traveled and painted in Flanders. Later, he looked to Gauguin and Cezanne and began to incorporate cubist ideas into his expressionist landscapes.
In 1908, he returned to Utah and became the Director of Art in the Ogden City School District. Before going to Europe, Beauregard had won first prize in the Utah Art Institute exhibit, and in 1909, after his return, he again won first prize. This second award helped him get a job as an illustrator for Western Monthly magazine and as correspondent for the Deseret News. Summer archaeology work led eventually to contact with Frank Springer, a wealthy New Mexico art patron, who became Beauregard's sponsor. Springer bought some of Beauregard's paintings and financed his second trip to Europe, where he spent the entire trip painting and sketching in Spain, France, and Germany. These paintings sold well to Europeans, and after his return, to Americans.
After Beauregard returned, Springer commissioned him to do six 10' x 12' murals representing the life of St. Francis of Assisi for the 1915 San Diego Panama Pacific Exposition. Beauregard took a scholarly approach to his work and researched and wrote essays on each phase. He was able to finish two of the panels (The Conversion of St. Francis and The Apotheosis of St. Francis) and the preliminary designs for the other four before he fell seriously ill and was forced by a lack of strength to abandon the project. Donald Beauregard died at his parents' home shortly before his thirtieth birthday. The majority of Donald Beauregard's works, including the Assisi murals, were donated by Frank Springer to the Museum of New Mexico.
Source:
Springville Museum of Art.
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