William Franklin Draper (American, 1912-2003). "Flowers Ixtapan de la Sal" oil on canvas, 1988. Signed "Wm. F. Draper on lower right. A vibrant landscape painting of Ixtapan de la Sal - a town in southern Mexico located about 60 kilometers south of Toluca, the state of Mexico's capital, and about 120 kilometers south of Mexico City - known for its natural curative hot springs which visitors have flocked to for centuries. American artist William Draper captures this verdant haven with his characteristically expressive style in this painting, replete with a field of red flowering plants, clusters of lush tree canopies in the middle ground, and waterfalls and/or blue ridged mountainsides in the distance. The painting is set in a custom golden frame with a brass plate engraved with the artist's name at the bottom center. Size of painting: 15" W x 12.25" H (38.1 cm x 31.1 cm) Size of frame: 21.375" W x 18.375" H (54.3 cm x 46.7 cm)

William Draper's career spanned five decades and his subjects included a portrait of John F. Kennedy that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. based upon an oil sketch for which the president sat in 1962. Draper was actually the only artist who painted JFK from life. Draper showed at Knoedler, the Graham Gallery, Portraits, Inc., the Far Gallery, The Findlay Galleries (New York, NY) and the Robert C. Vose Galleries (Boston, MA). His work has been included in shows at the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), The National Academy of Design (New York, NY), The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, (Boston, MA) the Fogg Art Museum, (one of the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA), the National Gallery, (London), Salon de la Marine (Paris) and in museums in Australia. He also taught at the Art Students League of New York, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Portrait Society of America in 1999.

More on the artist's background: William Franklin Draper was born in Hopedale, Massachusetts on December 24, 1912. A child prodigy, he studied classical piano at Harvard University. He later changed his focus to fine art and studied with Charles Webster Hawthorne and Henry Hensche in Provincetown, Rhode Island. Draper also attended the National Academy of Design in New York and the Cape Cod School of Art in Massachusetts. Then he traveled to Spain and studied with Harry Zimmerman, moved on to France and attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. In 1937, he moved to Boston to study sculpture with George Demetrius and also studied with Jon Corbino in beautiful Rockport, Massachusetts. In 1942, Draper joined the Navy and served as a combat artist when stationed on the Aleutian Islands and in the South Pacific. He observed and painted battle scenes on Bougainville, Guam, Saipan, and other locations, as well as genre scenes of soldiers who were not engaged in combat but rather at work and at play. National Geographic magazine reproduced 25 of his war images in four issues in 1944. In 1945, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. organized a group exhibition of works by five official war artists, including Draper. That same year the Metropolitan Museum of Art included Draper in an exhibition entitled, ''The War Against Japan.'' Draper was also featured in a PBS television show about combat artists entitled, "They Drew Fire" in May of 2000. After the war, Draper opened a studio on Park Avenue in New York City and continued to not only paint, but also play classical and jazz piano.

Provenance: The William F. Draper Collection, New York City, New York, USA, acquired via descent from the late William Franklin Draper (1912-2003)

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#152553

Signed "Wm. F. Draper on lower right. Draper Estate stamp on verso. Wired for suspension. Brass plate engraved "William Draper" at bottom center. Both the painting and the frame are in excellent condition.