Vern Carver & Beard Galleries is honored to work with the Fenelle Family in keeping Stanford's art and memory alive. The remaining works of Stanford Fenelle, including watercolors, gouache, oils, and prints, are a main feature at our gallery. Framed and unframed works by the late artist are available to view and purchase. Please call with questions or stop by the gallery to view the impressive collection.
Stanford Fenelle
(1909-1995)
Stanford Fenelle honed his artistic expertise with little interruption for more than
sixty years. The result is a prolific legacy of diverse style, vision, color and principled
technique.
Early Signs of Artistry
Stanford Fenelle was born on June 12, 1909 to immigrants, Alban and
Herminne Fenelle. He was the second of four children. His father (Swedish) and mother (Austrian) bought a home in South Minneapolis in 1915, and Stanford lived in this same home for 80 years, until his death on November 6, 1995.
Herminne Fenelle encouraged all of her children in music, and young Stanford
took music lessons to master various instruments. Music was important to him
throughout his life and he played the cello with several Twin Cities’ orchestras. In the seventh grade, with the encouragement of a perceptive and enthusiastic teacher, Fenelle discovered his passion and talent for the visual arts.
WPA Years
From 1933 to 1942, Fenelle was actively involved in the Works Project
Administration art division (WPA). He worked as a teacher and advisor. During this era, Fenelle exhibited his work while learning and painting with his contemporaries. He spent a summer painting with Cameron Booth. They composed many successful paintings and formed a lifelong friendship. Several years later Booth painted Fenelle playing the cello. This portrait reveals Booth’s admiration and affection for Fenelle. It is now part of the Minnesota Historical Society’s permanent collection.
Brown & Bigelow
When the WPA ended, Fenelle began a career with Brown & Bigelow, a large calendar and advertising company in St. Paul. During the next thirty years with B & B he perfected his renderings of hunting dogs. He never set aside his artistic passion in this work which allowed him to support his family, but instead devoted himself to creating spirited, vivacious work which were reproduced in calendars.
A Prolific Retirement
After his retirement from Brown & Bigelow in 1974, not missing a beat, Fenelle decided to capture some of Minnesota’s historical mills, one room school houses, and farmsteads. He and his wife Lilly took to the road, looking for interesting scenes to paint. His paintings from this time are detailed and sensitive renderings of Midwestern rural scenery and informal history. Fenelle exhibited his work only a few times during the second half of his life, but remained devoted to his vision. Through his work one conjures the gentle, confident man who cultivated his talent to discover himself.
Chronology
1909 Born in South Minneapolis to immigrant parents (Swedish/Austrian)
1920/30 Studied at Minneapolis School of Art and St. Paul School
of Art under painter Cameron Booth
1935 Appointed Supervisor of Easel Painting for the WPA.
1937, 39, 41 Local Artist Exhibition, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. First place prizes in ‘37 & ‘39. Purchase prize in ‘41.
1940 One-man exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Minneapolis.
1941 Group exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian.
1944 Began career with Brown & Bigelow. Worked for 30 years
perfecting his hunting dog renderings.
1974 Retired from Brown & Bigelow & began painting full-time.
1976 Bicentennial Artists Exhibition, West Lake Gallery, Mpls.
1988 One-man exhibition, Flanders Contemporary Art, Mpls.
1995 Painting until just a few days before he passed away from a stroke.
| Fall Scene
watercolor 22 x 17
$900 Iowa Farm
watercolor 29 x 21
$1,200 Farm Buildings 1985
oil on panel 24 x 18
|
