8x10 B&W glossy vintage photograph signed "Franklin C. Watkins" in black fountain pen ink. Minor light creases, otherwise, in very good condition. (1894-1972) Franklin Chennault Watkins was an American painter.Watkins first gained notice with the painting Suicide in Costume depicting a man in a clown costume lying on a table and holding a smoking gun. The piece, which was highly controversial and criticized for its morbid subject matter, won the 1931 Carnegie Prize. So great was its notoriety that the artist kept a low profile for some years thereafter. Today the painting is owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Its success opened doors for Watkins in Philadelphia society, and he soon gained a reputation as a portraitist, though he also painted still lifes, landscapes, and animals. In 1934 Lincoln Kirstein commissioned him to provide sets and costumes for George Balanchine's ballet Transcendence. He was also a muralist, providing decorations for the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. Notable sitters included Jefferson B. Fordham, dean of the law school at the University of Pennsylvania; Eugene Strecker, the psychiatrist; Joseph S. Clark, Mayor of Philadelphia; and the three Beinecke brothers. He was commissioned to paint a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, but the attack on Pearl Harbor intervened, and the president never sat for him. The artist's portraits could be controversial; the likeness of Clark in particular was not well-received and was only accepted by the city at the subject's insistence. Some critics have stated that Watkins derived his influence from Thomas Eakins. He also painted many religious works and has been compared to William Blake. Other artists cited as influences include Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Cézanne. Watkins, known as "Watty" among friends, received many awards throughout his career, and was honored with numerous one-man shows during his life. These included bronze medals at the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris and the Musee du Jeu de Paume in 1938, a gold medal from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1939, and the 1953 Fulbright professorship to Italy. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1967. He occasionally wrote articles about his discipline for art magazines; one particularly notable piece, "An Artist Talks to His Students", appeared in the Magazine of Art in December, 1941.This lot came from the Jim Wiggins collection we purchased in July 2022. Jim Wiggins accumulated the most unique and valuable autograph collection over a period of 70-plus years. He obtained his collection either in person or by writing to persons of fame and notoriety.Comes with a full Letter of Authenticity from Todd Mueller Authentics.