Edmund Franklin Ward
A collection of artwork by Edmund Franklin Ward has recently come to the attention of Bert Rosengarten of Antiques on Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA.. This large selection of works has been stored for many decades in the Boston home of his granddaughter.
Edmund Franklin Ward was born in White Plains, New York where he worked as a professional illustrator for most of his life. During 1910-1912, he studied at the Art Student League along side Norman Rockwell with whom he shared a studio. His teachers included George Bridgman, Edmund Dufner and Thomas Fogarty. By the age of twenty, Ward was already having success as an illustrator, and his work was found in the Saturday Evening Post. He illustrated Zane Grey’s “Thundering Herd,” and Emerson Haugh’s “Hawkeye.” Ward’s illustrations were used also by Red Book, Woman’s Home Companion, and Pictorial Review. During the 1940’s, Ward illustrated many print advertisements in magazines such as Colliers.
Between 1924-1925, he taught at the Art Student League. As part of the WPA Project, Ward created a mural for the White Plains Federal Building. He was the artist for the U.S. postage stamp commemorating the Battle of White Plains. His works have been exhibited in the National Academy of Art, the Guild of Freelance Artists, the Art Institute of Chicago (1925 prize), the Society of Illustration, the Guild of Freelance Artists, and the Salmagundi Club.
The history of American painting is expanded when a collection of an accomplished artist’s paintings surfaces. These paintings deserve to be included in future studies, catalogs, and exhibitions of American art.
Bert Rosengarten of Antiques on Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA
is a longtime Art & Antiques Dealer and Auctioneer