William Draper (American, 1912-2003). "Austria" oil on canvas, 1972. Signed "Wm. F. Draper '72" on lower right. A brilliant and quite large landscape painting in which American artist William Draper captures a flowing stream dotted with boulders below lush deciduous trees, with a spray of brilliant buttercup yellow wildflowers flourishing in the foreground. Draper was an avid world traveler and loved to capture natural scenery wherever he went. Draper was apparently quite taken with the Austrian landscape, as this composition is presented on an impressively large scale, set in an attractive custom frame, and furnished with a brass plaque engraved with the his name, indicating that this piece was exhibited. Size of painting: 29.5" W x 28.625" H (74.9 cm x 72.7 cm) Size of frame: 39.375" W x 38.375" H (100 cm x 97.5 cm)

William Draper's career spanned seven decades and his subjects included a portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. based upon an oil sketch for which the president sat in 1962. Draper was actually the only artist who painted JFK from life. Draper showed at Knoedler, the Graham Gallery, Portraits, Inc., the Far Gallery, The Findlay Galleries (New York, NY) and the Robert C. Vose Galleries (Boston, MA). His work has been included in shows at the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), The National Academy of Design (New York, NY), The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston, MA) the Fogg Art Museum, (one of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA), the National Gallery, (London), Salon de la Marine (Paris) and in museums in Australia. He also taught at the Art Students League of New York, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Portrait Society of America in 1999.

More on the artist's background: William Franklin Draper was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts on December 24, 1912. A child prodigy, he studied classical piano at Harvard University. He later changed his focus to fine art and studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne and Henry Hensche in Provincetown, Rhode Island. Draper also attended the National Academy of Design in New York and the Cape Cod School of Art in Massachusetts. Then he traveled to Spain and studied with Harry Zimmerman, moved on to France and attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1937, he moved to Boston to study sculpture with George Demetrius and also studied with Jon Corbino in beautiful Rockport, Massachusetts. In 1942, Draper joined the Navy and served as a combat artist when stationed on the Aleutian Islands and in the South Pacific. He observed and painted battle scenes on Bougainville, Guam, Saipan, and other locations, as well as genre scenes of soldiers who were not engaged in combat but rather at work and at play. National Geographic magazine reproduced 25 of his war images in four issues in 1944. In 1945, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. organized a group exhibition of works by five official war artists, including Draper. That same year the Metropolitan Museum of Art included Draper in an exhibition entitled, ''The War Against Japan.'' Draper was also featured in a PBS television show about combat artists entitled, "They Drew Fire" in May of 2000. After the war, Draper opened a studio on Park Avenue in New York City and continued to not only paint, but also play classical and jazz piano.

Provenance: The William F. Draper Collection, New York City, New York, USA, acquired via descent from the late William Franklin Draper (1912-2003)

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#153742

Painting is in excellent condition. Signed "Wm. F. Draper '72" on lower right. Slight scuffs and nicks to frame as shown. Brass plate engraved with the artist's name at bottom center of frame. Wired for suspension. Draper Estate stamp on verso.