F. Townsend Morgan, Key West the Island City of the Sea, 1935. Etching, 2nd edition, 1939, 9 1/2 by 14 3/4 inches.
Franklin Townsend Morgan’s early professional career as a painter was in Philadelphia where he was associated with the Sketch Club, the Print Club, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His prints record cities throughout the United States and the West Indies. In 1934 he produced a famous series of social protest prints depicting the tenements of Pittsburgh. That year, as Key West was suffering through the Depression, Morgan came to the island as part of a Federal Relief Agency sponsored Key West Art Project. Morgan became director of the Art Project in 1935 and worked with the Project through 1941 as director of the Key West Community Art Center.
The St. Petersburg Times in the June 12, 2001, “F. Townsend Morgan is an etcher and artist of recognized national prominence. Holder of several awards for his prints, Mr. Morgan is represented in the collections of the New York Public Library, Library of Congress, Art Museums in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and the Treasury Department of the United States. Designs from his work board appear in many private collections throughout the United States. He was chosen official artist for the Tercentenary, May 22 through 27, 1949, and the United States postage stamp commemorating the Tercentenary is his design. Mr. Morgan was born in Brooklyn, New York, and studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and the Art Students League in New York City. Since he began printmaking in 1912, Mr. Morgan had produced plates of the Far West, New England, the Atlantic seaboard, Florida and the West Indies. While active in Pennsylvania art circles, Mr. Morgan worked with Joseph Pennell, developing his style alongside the dean of American etchers. He was for several years the artist-in-residence at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Morgan was included in the 1936 survey by the publication Prints as one of the outstanding American print makers and has been represented in many publications concerning prints.”
In 1948 Townsend Morgan became artist-in-residence at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, a post he held in 1950 when he and Mrs. Morgan visited Key West for the Easter holiday. Morgan was closely related to financier J. P. Morgan.
Born: 1883, Brooklyn, New York.
Died: 1965, Englewood, Florida.
Education: Pratt Institute of Art (Brooklyn); Art Students League, New York; studied under Arthur Dow, George Bridgman, John F. Carlson and Pennell.
Membership: Key West Public Works Art Project, 1934; Key West Art Association; Key West Society of Artists; Philadelphia Sketch Club; Philadelphia Print Club.
Exhibits: Philadelphia Sketch Club, 1st prize; Print Club of Philadelphia, two honorable mentions; Art Alliance of Philadelphia, honorable mention; Society of American Etchers, J. Frederick Talcott Prize, 1935; Key West Art Gallery, Caroline Lowe House, February 1935; Key West Paintings, by Twelve Key West Artists, toured the nation, 1936, etchings, Grim Old Tortugas, Fisherman, Bailing Out, Key West; Society of The Four Arts, December 1937; Key West Art Association, 1st Exhibit, February 1938, Rain Squall; Key West Art Association, March 1938; Florida Federal Art Project, Traveling Exhibit, A Survey of Activity in Retrospect, 1938, Key West, Miami, New Smyrna, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ocala, Pensacola; Florida Art Project, WPA, statewide exhibition, 1939-1940; Venice Biennial Exhibition, Venice, Italy, May-October 1940, sponsored by National Academy of Design, Society of American Etchers, and Grand Central Galleries, etching, Rum Runner; University of Miami, Administration Building, May 1940, thirty-one etchings; Coral Gables Art Center, May 1940, eleven marines; Key West Art Center, September 1941; Miami Beach Art Center, Christmas, 1941, Fourteen Key West Artists; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, 1946; Florida Gulf Coast Group, Clearwater Art Museum, 5th Annual, nationwide circuit, July 1946-May 1947, etchings, Ships for Victory, Annapolis Harbor; Casa Marina Hotel, Key West, March 4, 1948.
