Frank Virgil Dudley (1868 - 1957) American
Oil on Board
Measure 8"in H x 10"in W and 10 1/4"in H x 12 1/2"in W with frame

Known for: Sand dune landscape painting, florals
Biography: Frank Virgil Dudley was known as the "Painter of the Dunes," because of his fascination with the Indiana dunes on Lake Michigan, beginning with his first visit in 1911 to the area when he was hiking with the Prairie Club of Chicago. This organization was one of the "contemporary manifestations of a burgeoning spirit of regional identity that championed local cultural expression and the appreciation and preservation of the local landscape." (Greenhouse, 96) In 1916, Dudley decided to focus on the Indiana Dunes as his primary subject matter. In 1918, thirty of his paintings were featured in a Chicago Art Institute exhibit, "Western Scenes", which was co-sponsored by three other clubs also devoted to conservation: Friends of Our Native Landscape, the Dunes Pageant Association and the Conservation Council. Reportedly, many viewers were greatly surprised that the dune paintings reflected scenes of unspoiled beauty from Indiana, their own region, rather than more 'exotic' places in the United States, East and West. In 1921, having gained much positive attention for his regional focus, Dudley closed the small art supply business he was running in Chicago, and built a cabin for full-time painting on Lake Michigan near Chesterton, Indiana. He was able to build the cabin with money he received from winning the Logan Prize of the Art Institute for his painting, Duneland, and from then selling the painting to the Art Institute. Dudley's studio and cottage became a gathering place for many painters attracted to the Indiana Dunes and to the variances of the shoreline. The artists, including Dudley, became champions of preservation for the area, and the beauty of their canvases stirred the public pressure that led in 1923 to the establishment of two-thousand acres as the Indiana Dunes State Park. At that time, Dudley made an arrangement to be able to keep his cabin as rental property within the park in exchange for one painting a year donated to the Indiana State Department of Conservation. Living in the Park for over thirty years, he died in 1957.

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