The artist reading the funnies to his infant daughter, Suzanne. The theme of reading books and funny papers is a recuring one in Wright's paintings. Suzanne is now the Director of Education for the Phillips Collection and the
mother of Adrianna Wright Quaide, the artist's first grandchild.
When Frank Wright arrived in Florence he lived at Piazza Pitti 14 across from the Pitti Palace. In May 1957 he was married in the Palazzo Vecchio and moved with his wife to the Arnold Bocklin Villa Bellagio in San Domenico near Fiesole. In 1958, he moved with his wife into Florence near San Lorenzo.

he career of Frank Wright extends over four decades and encompasses not only painting and drawing (which he has taught for three decades at the Corcoran and George Washington University) but also the graphic arts. An extended period of study in Paris intensified an omnipresent interest in art history, and particularly early master techniques in printmaking. Wright studied the art of engraving with burin with S.W. Hayter at the celebrated Atelier 17 in Paris. Although Hayter's technique and use of the burin was contemporary in spirit, Hayter's knowledge and sensitivity were pivotal in Wright's progress.

Wright's work is always figurative with an emphasis on optical reality (in the spirit of Vermeer). By interlacing photographic information with visual observation, he has endeavored to re-introduce the unfashionable category of history painting into the mainstream with a special interest in Washington, DC and the Civil War. His family, friends, and students always play a role in his work, whether in his paintings of daily life or in the invented scenes of times gone by.

Landscape painting is a strong interest in which he concentrates on the light of the seasons and times of the day. Much of his work was produced at his extraordinary studio of 32 years in Gallery Place, Washington, DC, across from the National Portrait Gallery. He now works in a small but beautiful new studio near the George Washington University where he continues to teach.

While many of his paintings and prints are in public and private collections, others are available to be seen or purchased.


The artist dressed as a Civil War soldier in preparation for The Grand Review. His largest and most complex easel painting.The artist in his studio withThe Shelf with Two Candles and in the background, the shelf with two candles.   Photo Credit: Zinnia.
The artist with S.W. Hayter. Hayter was Wright's teacher in Paris. He visited Wright's studio in the late 1960s and met with his drawing students at the Corcoran.


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