Frank DuMond

Painting class taught by Frank DuMond in Julia E. Hoffman's studio, ca. 1895 Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teacher who instructed thousands of art students throughout a career spanning over fifty years.

Early life and education Frank Vincent DuMond was born on August 20, 1865, in Rochester, New York, to Elisabeth and Alonzo DuMond, partner/owner of an ornamental iron works manufacturer. They also had a younger son, Frederick Melville DuMond (1867 - 1927). Frank DuMond was interested in drawing from a young age, and was involved in the local art scene in the early 1880s. He got a job creating illustrations for a sign painting business. After graduating from a Rochester public school, DuMond moved to New York City in 1884.

From 1884 to 1888, he attended the Art Students League of New York, studying under Carroll Beckwith and William Sartain. where his instructors included Benjamin Constant, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, and Gustav Boulanger. They spent five years painting in France, where he also held summer classes for the Art Students League, painting landscapes outdoors from dawn until sunset. In 1900 he was elected into the National Academy of Design, and became a full Academician in 1906.

Work DuMond exhibited at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, and the Saint Louis Exposition. He served as director of fine arts at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition

The editor of Harper's, who was also president of the Art Students League of New York, convinced him to take a job teaching at the League. He still performed illustration work for a while in addition to teaching, including the artwork for Mark Twain's Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. Frank Herbert Mason,

DuMond developed a Prismatic Palette, used especially for landscapes. His students were taught to see a progression of prismatic light in pre-mixed paints placed in a tonal progression flowing from yellow to violet on the warm side and from yellow to green to blue green to violet on the cool side. A student quoted DuMond, "Silently glowing over this whole landscape is a rainbow. You must learn to see it. It is there always." Variations of the Prismatic Palette are still used by many artists and teachers and by schools, including the Ridgewood Art Institute in New Jersey.

DuMond was a member of the Old Lyme Art Colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut, where he lived in a neighborhood called Grassy Hill. For several years he headed the Art Students League's Lyme Summer School of Art, where he also taught outdoors, as he had in France. After the school moved to Woodstock, NY, DuMond continued to give private classes in Old Lyme.

Collections DuMond's work is in the permanent collections of the following institutions:

Brandywine River Museum Bruce Museum of Arts and Science Lyman Allyn Art Museum National Academy of Design National Arts Club New Britain Museum of American Art Portland Art Museum Richmond Art Museum . San Antonio Museum of Art San Francisco Arts Commission San Francisco Public Library Smithsonian American Art Museum