Francis (“Frank”) Golden was
born in 1916 in Adams, Massachusetts and studied at Museum of
Fine Arts School in Boston (graduated, 1939). In that year he
traveled with a group of artists who had joined an artist’s
union. Golden settled in Chicago, moved to New York, then
Connecticut and finally to Massachusetts.
Golden has spent his life painting en plein aire, creating
outdoor paintings in watercolor that editors of various
magazines quickly bought and used as illustrations. “I became
known as an illustrator,” he said in 1999, “but my work is not
illustrative! I’m a painter who paints because he has to paint
in order to stay sane!” Nevertheless, his watercolors became
some of the most popular images in sports magazines and he by
1974 he was highly respected as a wildlife and sporting scene
painter probably because with enthusiasm and gusto he paints
what he knows well with competence and virility.
Golden is a knowledgeable, versatile, skilled outdoorsman who
has fly-fished streams, deep-sea fished, sailed in the
roughest waters and hunted in the most remote areas throughout
the world. He can tell someone all there is to know about
swans, Atlantic Salmon, White Tail deer, squirrels, ducks and
beagles. He profoundly discerns auto racing, air flight and
yachting. He is a tenor in a barbershop quartet, bakes apples
pies gourmets envy and is considered “a macho Renaissance man”
by those who know him well.
In 1939, Golden lived in New York City to paint murals and the
background on Salvador Dali’s "The Dream of Venus" for the
World’s Fair. In 1940, he was a free-lance artist who earned a
good salary painting posters, and “pots and pan” for J.C.
Penney’s and his “big break” came in 1948 when he was chose to
illustrate for Collier’s.
Because he was able to see and comprehend natural phenomena
and human and animal behavior, the artist spontaneously
created watercolors that he viewed in nature with certainty
and clarity. He transcribed with ease the oscillating scenes
he viewed and because of this ability, from 1948-1978,
Golden’s painting became illustrations for Saturday Evening
Post and his sporting scene subjects were popular in Sports
Illustrated (and was voted one of its top 10 artists of all
time), Sports Afield, Gray’s Sporting Journal, Audubon,
Collier’s and other prestigious magazines.
“I love the medium of watercolor! It allows me to paint loose,
fast and smooth without hesitation and that is what creates
action and the illusion of movement,” the artist admits.
Zack Taylor observed in Sports Afield, “He sees and uses
colors no other artist sees…[His] leaping fish flair correctly
in all proportions down to the arc in the angler’s rod,” and
that talent has won Golden awards from the Society of
Illustrators and the Art Director’s Club, but Golden admits,
“I hate to waste time exhibiting when I can be painting, and I
reject as silly juried shows.”
In 1961, Golden’s "Summer Race" was Time magazines
announcement illustration for a new magazine, Sports
Illustrated. Golden was hired by Sports Illustrated to paint
hunting of upland birds and soon he was illustrating
experience-oriented stories because editors consider the
artist a “storyteller” in paint. He was chosen to paint the
golfing days of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, took them
fishing for roosterfish in the Gulf of California with Jon
Tarantino, and showed them the secrets of Johnny Unitas’
forward passes!
In 1978, Golden left the illustration world to paint at his
easel full time. Many enthusiasts of the artist’s work marvel
at the golden touch of this artist and compare him unfairly
with Ogden Pleissner. Golden seems to have an uncanny ability
to capture fluidly all of nature in paint, while at the same
time, he expresses the emotional impact of a scene with in a
realistic flair.
Harry Bruse declared in 1996 in the Atlantic Salmon Journal,
“What does this Connecticut watercolorist bring to his work?
Strength, control, imagination, impressionism, realism,
precision, care, speed – and an unmistakable whiff of the
outdoors. That’s all!” His paintings of Fly Fishing Along the
Metapedia, Quebec; Fishing in the Idaho Countryside;
Bonefishing the Florida Flats; Fishing for Stripers; Winter
Fishing in Vermont; Early Morning Trout Fishing; Duck Hunting
Along the Mississippi Delt; Skiing in Stratton, Vermont and
those of yachts, schooners and of many Fishing Tournament
views in Florida have endeared Golden to thousands of sporting
enthusiasts who have either seen articles or illustrations of
his agile, colorful, fluid watercolors.
In 2000, Pierce Galleries, Inc. of Hingham, MA became Golden’s
exclusive agent and held an exhibition of his watercolors in
May-August.
Francis Golden is an extraordinary artist who can paint
anything well. His well-deserved fame as a sports illustrator
is well deserved, but he can paint so much more with equal
verve. He has been influenced by the work of Sargent and by
Japanese paintings and prints that predate 1890. He has
painted nature and sporting events throughout the world and he
is recognized as one of American’s most distinguished
watercolorists.
