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Renowned portrait artist (1878-1960), Frank Ashford grew up in the Stratford area, settled in downtown Aberdeen, and left a legacy of artwork waiting to be rediscovered.
Back in 2017, the Alexander Mitchell Public Library was moved into the brand new K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library. I was a board member at the time (still am, actually), and took interest in the library’s collection of original oil paintings by the late Aberdeen artist Frank Clifford Ashford. The new library included space for the collection to be permanently displayed.
In our January/February 2018 issue of Aberdeen Magazine, I wrote my first piece about Ashford and the Aberdeen collection. The Dacotah Prairie Museum has a small collection of paintings as well; however, they are typically not on display. They also have Ashford’s paint palette and other studio equipment from his apartment. I mention in that story that Frank Ashford has skirted Google search results for the most part, making modern-day researching about him a bit tricky. There were a few mentions of his paintings that sold at auction in recent years, and each auction house used the same regurgitated bio of Ashford. That told me that no one has taken the time to actually “put” Frank Ashford on the internet. Not even ten paintings showed up in image searches. Ten. That’s a shockingly low number considering the man painted continuously from 1904 to 1960. So, after my article, I convinced my team at McQuillen Creative Group to make me a basic website where I could digitally “store” all the paintings I find by Ashford. At this point, I have collected nearly 80 paintings.
I keep saying “I” in this story, but I have had help over the years. I’ve met Corey Schuh, who is a serious regional historian and desires to bring back home as many Ashfords as we can obtain. He and I believed that we would contact painting owners and relieve them of their paintings for a nominal fee. We held this sentiment because Ashford wasn’t well known, and had no current-day notoriety, thus people would not want their paintings. We were completely wrong. We have not found anyone willing to part with their paintings. Our goal was to add paintings to the collections at the library or museum so they would be preserved and displayed perpetually (we still have that goal). So far, we’re batting zero.
In the fall of 2021, South Dakota Magazine got wind of me snooping around the Human Services Center in Yankton. In the early 1920s Ashford was commissioned to paint 11 paintings for the Dakota Hospital for the Insane in Yankton (now the HSC) to help create a more calming environment for the patients. By 1990 there were five left. When I got there in 2021, there were only three. Writer John Andrews from South Dakota Magazine chatted with me about our research then wrote an extensive story about Ashford and our quest. However, none of our efforts would be possible if it weren’t for the previous research work done by the late Francis “Peg” Lamont. Andrews describes Lamont’s Ashford quest in great detail in his article, all based on a paper Lamont presented at Augustana College in the early 1990s. The paper is a literal treasure map of Ashford’s paintings. However, there are very few Xs marking the spots. Lamont passed away several years ago and I’ve been in communication with the Lamont family to try to obtain her research material and photos. I did receive probate material from a law firm that handled his affairs upon his death. There were photos of some paintings we had not seen before in the files, and we found many notes that Peg referenced in her paper (she did all her research way before the internet).
Ashford claimed to paint in the Impressionistic style. This style is characterized by distinct brush strokes that trick they eye into seeing the composition from a distance. Up close, Impressionist paintings often look like a mess of brush strokes and colors. Often shapes and forms were “indicated” rather than painted with precision. The faces of Ashford’s sitters are frequently done with a myriad of overlapping colors. He would not have had a “Flesh” paint color on his palette. This is a closeup of Lewis Crill, a former Secretary of Agriculture for South Dakota, painted by Ashford.
So what’s the big deal about Frank Clifford Ashford? Why is he popping up in our history from time to time? I guess communities (and states) love their heroes. Frank was a world-renowned portrait painter, and Aberdeen is right to claim him as an artistic master who lived here, worked here, and died here. Sure he was from a farm near Stratford; sure he studied all over the US and Paris; sure he painted President Coolidge and First Lady Grace; sure he commanded $1,000 per portrait in the 20s and 30s; but he always came back to Aberdeen. He had a studio in the Citizens Building, but ultimately settled down in the Boyd Apartments (the former Malchow Building at 5th and Main). He died of a heart attack in 1960 in his apartment/studio. He was 82. His apartment was full of art, including one on his easel still being worked on. All of these paintings were auctioned off, giving family first priority. All remaining pieces were purchased by the lawyers and donated to the library, museum, and YWCA.
Ashford had married for a short time. He had no children but did have siblings. Those siblings went on to have extensive families, and it seems everyone has at least one painting by “Uncle Frank.” Upon his passing, Ashford had no one in the region to carry on his legacy. All his relatives had moved to Oregon. So, Aberdeen sort of forgot about him. That said, the staff at both the library and museum are proud of their Ashford collections and his Aberdeen connection. Anyone who ever took a tour of the museum would have seen the Ashford portrait of Frank Hatterscheidt, the Aberdeen businessman who hunted all the animals mounted at the museum, hanging near the elephant.
In the last few years, Corey and I have gotten rather bold with our research efforts. We use newspaper archives (Frank was in the papers a lot), then a people-finder website to track down descendants of people who owned the paintings. These efforts have resulted in some great images of Ashford’s “lost” work. Technically his work is not lost. Much of it is safely hanging in people’s homes or tucked away in museums. I believe museums across the country that possess Ashfords are hesitant to display them because they have no provenance for the paintings. They don’t know who Frank Clifford Ashford was. Beyond the “Ashford” at the bottom of many of his paintings, no one knows anything more. So instead of rehashing his life story here (see the previous articles), we thought it would be interesting to share some specific paintings and how we came to find them. Corey and I maintain a Google Doc of every painting we’ve read about. We have nearly two hundred listed.
See all our found paintings at FrankAshford.com. You can visit the K.O. Lee Aberdeen Public Library and see many Ashford paintings in the Archive room. The portrait gallery at South Dakota’s state capitol includes many portraits of government officials painted by Ashford as well. //
Bishop Burleson, 1928
On October 25, 1916, Hugh L. Burleson was elected Missionary Bishop of South Dakota. In her 1990 paper, Peg Lamont described this painting as being on the mantle in the Fireside room at Aberdeen’s St. Mark’s Episcopal church. In 2019 when we tried to track this down, the church told us it was moved to Calvary Episcopal Cathedral, the oldest church in Sioux Falls. We found this painting in the basement amid a collection of others. Lamont’s paper says that an Aberdeen resident noticed this painting in a photography shop in Minneapolis. She was told Ashford never paid his bills, so they kept the painting. The woman covered Ashford’s debt and returned the painting to the Aberdeen church. We have been in contact with Calvary and they have agreed to loan us the painting indefinitely and it will be hung among the other Ashfords at the Library.
Susan Juanita Fossum, 1927
This portrait was very difficult to find. We read about it in Aberdeen newspapers, but when digging deeper into Ms. Fossum, it turns out she went by two different first names and had been married and widowed twice. Corey ultimately traced her linage to a family member on the east coast who owns and loves the artwork. Susan Juanita Fossum was born in Aberdeen in 1908. She married Edwin Stevens, then later, J. Warren Hull. Hull was the master of ceremonies for a TV show called, “Strike it Rich.” She passed away in 1991 in New Haven, Connecticut. This painting was documented in the Aberdeen Evening News which says Fossum was one of Ashford’s first models upon his return to Aberdeen in 1927. Ashford would get about $1,000 for a portrait of this stature, but apparently gave it to Ms. Fossum upon completion.
Floral Stills, 1916
Photo: Nick Pironio. Used with permission
Floral Stills, 1916
In a newspaper article from the 1950s, it was mentioned that a donation was made by John F. Douglas to Pomona College in Claremont, California of two paintings by Frank Ashford. Douglas worked for the Carnation Milk company and purchased several Ashford paintings. He was a big fan and friend of Ashford. He even tried to promote Ashford by writing him a press release to better promote himself and his distinctions. Ashford was very modest and probably never used the press release. Fortunately, Pomona College has an impressive art collection that is well-documented online. When searching their online resource, a single entry popped up featuring “Ashford” but no picture. It described one painting as flowers in a vase on a table. The college found no record of the donation, nor the second painting, but did take a snapshot of the painting in storage referenced in their database. The painting on the left is known as Yellow Chrysanthemums. Their database is now updated with many more details about Frank Ashford (Used with permission from Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College). We are assuming here, but perhaps the second painting was the one on the right, Spirea and Rambling Rose, possibly from the same time frame. Corey found this one at the University of Washington’s Henry Art Museum in Seattle. It is part of a large collection once owned by Horace Henry. Henry gave his entire collection (including two Ashfords) to UW and funds to build a museum (Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Horace C. Henry Collection, 26.2. Photo: Nick Pironio. Used with permission).
The Nude, 1914
This was painted by Ashford in Paris in 1914. It was sold by an auction house in Portland, Oregon in the late 2010s. Ashford’s Paris work is difficult to track down. He left Paris at the onset of World War I. He maintained a studio there for several years and had works accepted into exhibitions and salons over the years. We discovered reference to a second version of this painting that was found in Ashford’s apartment/studio upon his death. This one is not dated, however. We did find the widow of the gentleman that purchased this version from Ashford’s estate in 1962. She lives in Iowa and reported that it hung in their bedroom for 32 years. Upon his passing, she auctioned it off in 2016. The auction house remembers it but would not connect us with the buyer.
Corrine "Connie" Raymond, 1927
Connie Raymond lived in Aberdeen for a time. She won the American Legion’s Miss Aberdeen contest in 1927. Frank Ashford would often judge regional beauty contests and offered a portrait as a prize option. Word of this painting was reported in the local newspaper, so we had some leads. This painting was found in Idaho and is still owned by descendants of Raymond. We found a photographer in Idaho to take this picture of the painting for us.
Chief Seattle
This painting, while not overly attractive, was painted from a photo of Chief Seattle (1786-1866) of the Puget Sound area. He was a successful military strategist and was helpful in negotiations between the Native Americans and the settlers. He signed a treaty ceding the area now known as Seattle to the United States. This was commissioned by John F. Douglas of the Carnation Dairy company for the Pioneer Association of Washington. It may have been completed in the early 1940s. Douglas was a proponent of Ashford and in Lamont’s paper she refences a quote from Douglas to Ashford. He told him to attach an envelope to the back of Chief Seattle when finished and insert his resume in it. I searched Google for “painting of Chief Seattle.” This image showed up and I recognized Douglas’s name on the plate. The image is from the University of Washington Library. It makes no reference to Ashford. Only someone looking for a Frank Ashford signature would be able to recognize faintly his mark, F.C. Ashford, in the lower right. The Pioneer Association of Seattle still exists, and they still have the painting. But there is no envelope on the back.
Oliver Twists
In 1909, Frank Ashford wrote a friend stating that he planned to tour Italy in search of inspiration. “He will also make a special study of French peasant types with a view of using them as the motifs of future effort.” Apparently this is one of those French Peasant-style paintings. This was located at the University of North Dakota archives. Their database states it is in very bad shape. This appears to be a literary subject, perhaps related to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. The painting was removed from public display at UND, as it suffered from both careless neglect and intentional abuse while hanging in a public hallway on campus. The painting was done in 1909, making it one of the oldest known Frank Ashford paintings on our website. This is a very large canvas, 52″ x 65,” making it one of the biggest known. The painting was given to UND by John F. Douglas, who was an alum (Class of 1896). Douglas donated several Ashford paintings to various institutions. See Yellow Chrysanthemums and Chief Seattle.
Mrs. R.R. Peters, 1916
We came upon an article in the Des Moines Register newspaper from November 1935. It mentions that Mrs. R.R. Peters, past president of their Women’s Club, donated a picture of herself painted by Ashford some years earlier. The organization still exists, and they reported the painting is still hanging above a fireplace in a prominent meeting room at their club.
The Three Sisters, 1912
Help us find one of Frank Ashford’s most loved paintings. He seemed to keep it with him for his entire career. He painted Les Trois Soeurs, or The Three Sisters, in 1912 while he was in Paris. It was included in a salon there and at exhibitions in Philadelphia and Chicago. This photo was taken for the catalog of the Philadelphia exhibit. In a 1953 Aberdeen American News story, Frank Ashford is shown in a photo at a downtown department store where he was exhibiting his work. This painting is behind him in the photo. Ashford would pass away seven years later, and The Three Sisters was not in his apartment at the time of his death. Interestingly, Ashford did repeat the woman on the right in The Three Sisters in another painting on display at our library, so we have some sense of how this might have looked in color. Lamont’s paper does mention a known location of it at a Savings and Loan in Van Nuys, California. The bank has long been closed but was owned by an art loving couple from Pasadena. We contacted one of their daughters and she knew nothing of the painting. It is currently lost to us.
Three Sisters - Lady in Pink
Caroline Jung
A newspaper article from the late 1950s and Peg Lamont’s paper reference that Ashford painted a waitress from the Virginia Café named Caroline Jung. I asked on an Aberdeen Facebook page if anyone knew the name. Within a day I was in touch with Caroline Jung (maiden name) from Illinois. She faintly remembers posing for Frank Ashford in 1960, her senior year while working at the café. She is the only person we’ve ever met who had met Frank and posed for him. She said he was very formal, professional, but she did take her sister with for the three sittings she did with him. When I showed her unidentified female portraits in the Library’s collection, she could not definitely confirm one was of her. She and her sister never saw what Frank was painting while they were in his studio. Jung said she never heard from him again. This would have been close to the time that Frank died in his apartment. Jung believes this painting resembles her younger self the most.
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