Francis Luis Mora (1874-1940) on view March 1 through March 18, 2023 at ACA Galleries, 529 West 20th Street in the Chelsea Gallery District.
March 7, 2023: ACA Galleries, 529 West 20th Street in the Chelsea Gallery district, is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of Francis Luis Mora, the first Hispanic member of the National Academy of Design. A renowned artist, painter, muralist, illustrator and teacher, he exhibited widely during his lifetime and received many important public commissions including the portrait of President Warren G. Harding on permanent display in the White House.
This exhibition focuses on drawings which demonstrate his superb draughtsmanship and depict domestic scenes, portraits, mural studies, landscapes, and nudes alongside selected oil paintings.
Born in Uruguay in 1874, his family emigrated to America in 1880 and settled in New Jersey. His father, Domingo Mora (1840–1911) was his first teacher and an architectural sculptor who worked with Augustus St. Gaudens. At age 15 he enrolled in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School where he studied with American Impressionist painters Frank W. Benson and Edmund G. Tarbell.
Later Mora was an instructor at William Merritt Chase’s New York School of Art, Grand Central Art School and at The Art Students League. He was a member of the Society of American Artists, American Watercolor Society, National Arts Club, and Salmagundi Club, among others.
His works can be found in numerous museum collections including Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; National Academy of Design, NY; Newark Museum, NJ; New York Historical Society, NY; Oakland Museum of Art, CA; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Yale University Art Gallery, CT and many others.
Since 1932 the American Contemporary Art Gallery (ACA) has been at the vanguard of American Art. As one of the oldest galleries in New York, its pioneering interest in progressive art was established early on in exhibitions, often introducing the work of artists Giorgio Cavallon, Aaron Douglas, Philip Evergood, Rockwell Kent, Alice Neel, Barnett Newman, Irene Rice Pereira, David Smith, Theodoros Stamos and Charles White, among many others. Today, ACA Galleries continues to break new ground, supporting new artists, representing established artists and distinguished estates; and presenting several exhibitions per year that honor the gallery’s deep historical roots by re-imagining them in a contemporary context.
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday: 11am – 6pm / ACA Galleries 529 West 20th Street, 5th Floor
Sunday – Monday: By Appointment
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