Fernand Lungren

Fernand Lungren
Washington Square, New York, 1897; painting by Fernand Lungren
Born	Fernand Harvey Lungren 13 November, 1857, Hagerstown, Maryland, US
Died	9 November, 1932 Santa Barbara, California, US
Residence	New York; Cincinnati, Ohio; London, Santa Fe, New Mexico; California (L.A. and Santa Barbara); Paris, Egypt
Nationality	American
Education	University of Michigan, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Académie Julian
Known for	Painter and illustrator, especially of California desert and American tribal scenes
Movement	Orientalist; Barbizon school; Californian Plein-air school
Spouse(s)	Henrietta Whipple

Fernand Lungren (1857-1932) was an American painter and illustrator mostly known for his paintings of American South Western landscapes and scenes (California, New Mexico, Arizona) as well as for New York and European city street scenes. He was famous for his vibrantly colored paintings of the Southern California desert, especially in the Death Valley and Mojave Desert area. He also dabbled in Orientalist art, while travelling through Europe and North Africa.

Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, of Swedish descent, on November 13, 1857, Fernand Lungren was raised in Toledo, Ohio. He showed an early talent for drawing but his father induced him to pursue a professional career and in 1874 entered the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to study mining engineering. However, after meeting the painter Kenyon Cox (1856-1919), he was determined to follow a career as a visual artist.

At the age of 19, and following a dispute with his father, Lungren was finally permitted to enrol at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied under Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) and Robert Frederick Blum (1857–1903). He also studied briefly in Cincinnati and in 1882, he furthered his studies in Paris at the Académie Julian, but only remained there for brief period, abandoning formal study for direct observation of Parisian street life. It was during this period that he painted The Cafe.

In 1877, now twenty years old, and upon completion of his studies, Fernand Lungren moved to New York City. There he rented a studio with the prominent painter and pastellist Robert Frederick Blum. In New York City, he found work as an illustrator for Scribner’s Monthly (renamed Century in 1881) during the period known as ‘the Golden Age of American illustration.’ His first illustration appeared in 1879 and he continued to contribute to Scribner’s Monthly until 1903. He was also an illustrator for the children’s magazine, Saint Nicholas from 1879 to 1904 and later for Harper’s, McClure’s and The Outlook. His illustration work in these periodicals focussed on portraits, landscapes and social scenes, which gave him some notoriety as the illustrator of New York street scenes.