'A Lifetime of Imaging; The Art of Margaret Lefranc'
Ferguson Center for the Arts, Falk Gallery
Thursday, November 5, 4p.m.
News Release - October 27, 2009
Media Contact:
Lori Jacobs,
Director of Public Relations
lori.jacobs@cnu.edu
(757) 594-7961
(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) - Christopher Newport University will host a lecture titled A Lifetime of Imaging; The Art of Margaret Lefranc, on Thursday, November 5, at 4 p.m. in the Falk Gallery. Sandra McKenzie, president and director of the Margaret Lefranc Art Foundation, is guest lecturer.
Margaret Lefranc was a prodigiously talented artist whose career as a painter, illustrator and editor spanned more than 87 years. A notable and pioneering woman artist of the 20th century, Lefranc created a body of work that provides a clarifying window on modernist art and its evolution during her lifetime. Lefranc worked in a variety of media (including oil, watercolor, gouache, pastel, etching and monotype), and the portraits and landscapes that she created reflect cubist and other avant-garde influences. In Europe and New York, she found a place in the artistic vanguard during the 1920s and 1930s. She was a contemporary of the celebrated artist Georgia O’Keefe, among many others.
A noted illustrator and editor, in 1948 Lefranc received a "Fifty Best Books of the Year" award from the Library of Congress in conjunction with the American Institute of Graphic Arts for her illustrations of San Ildefonso native pottery in Maria: The Potter of San Ildefonso by Alice Marriott. In 1952, her illustrations for Indians of the Four Corners were similarly honored with a "One Hundred Best Books of the Year" award, also from the Library of Congress. An online gallery of Lefranc's work can be found at www.margaretlefranc.org.
Sandra McKenzie has worked for the past decade to save Lefranc's extensive collection of artworks, dating from 1921-1998, the year of the artist's death. McKenzie edited and directed the film A Lifetime of Imaging: The Art of Margaret Lefranc, provided the research for a 413-page, full-color companion catalog written by Lois Katz, and actively promotes Lefranc's legacy through a foundation website, public appearances, publications, films and research.
For more information about the CNU lecture, contact Falk Gallery manager Elaine Viel at (757) 594-7930 or CNU faculty advisor Betty Anglin at (757) 594-7446.
The Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, Virginia will present An American Original - Margaret Lefranc; 50 Years of Watercolors from November 7, 2009- January 3, 2010. For more information, visit www.pfac-va.org.
A four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia, Christopher Newport University enrolls 5,000 students in rigorous academic programs through the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Natural and Behavioral Sciences, and the College of Social Sciences including the Luter School of Business. CNU offers great teaching and small classes as well as an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. For more information about CNU and its programs,
please visit www.cnu.edu.