FRANK VAN SLOUN

The works of one of America's truly great artists have recently become avaliable to collectors through decision of the Van Sloun family to release a mumber of his works. They have retained them for sentimental reasons since the sudden death of the artist on August 27, 1938.

Among the California painters and mural decorators who rank as artists of national worth, Frank Van Sloun achieved for himself an honorable and exeptional place in the Western Art World. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 4, 1879, of a Dutch father and American mother, Van Sloun was educated wholly in this country. He never married. Most of his efforts were in oil, pastel, and tempera, and he also produced many etchings, monotypes, drawings and washes. Since 1911, when he joined the faculty of the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the University of California in Berkeley, he attained prominence as a teacher as well as a muralist.

During his long service as an art teacher, he proved himself a master of anatomy and figure composition. His capacity for placing the human figure in decorative compositions revealed his craftmanship and basic knowledge of art, so well expressed in his many spacious murals. He had a manner of presenting the figure in a dignified and almost classical form, the most notable examples being his twelve mural panels in the War Memorial Vestibule of the Library and Courts Building, Sacramento, and the eight panels in the Rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco and the University of California in Berkeley, he attained prominence as a teacher as well as a muralist..

During his long service as an art teacher, he proved himself a master of anatomy and figure composition. His capacity for placing the human figure in decorative compositions revealed his craftmanship and basic knowledge of art, so well expressed in his many spacious murals. He had a manner of presenting the figure in a dignified and almost classical form, the most notable examples being his twelve mural panels in the War Memorial Vestibule of the Library and Courts Building, Sacramento, and the eight panels in the Rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.

Van Sloun began his art studies st the St. Paul School of Fine Arts, which he attended for several years. at the age of twenty-one he entered the Art Students League in New York, later transferring to the art school conducted by the popular portrait painter and teacher, William M. Chase. Here he worked for four years, principally under Robert Henri.Among his confreres were George Bellows, John Sloan and Rockwell Kent. All five of these men respected Van Sloun's outstanding ability as an artist.

His studies were based on his conviction that one must first have a thorough mastery of anatomy, composition and color fundamentals. With these essentials made one's own, the greatest latitude could be given to technique and methods. His accomplishments in a variety of mediums later proved the worth of his premise and of his mastery of basic art knowledge. Further evidence of his thorough and versatile craftmanship was revealed in his career as an educator in art, during which he taught drawing, painting, composition, illustrations, portraiture and anatomy.

Any reputable intellectual art expression is said to be a reflection of the ages of creative