Francis McCray
1899 – 1960
Francis
McCray studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Vogue School of Design
in Chicago. He had an extensive
career in commercial art as an illustrator, a mural painter, and a portrait
painter. In 1931 and 1932 he joined
Grant Wood at the Stone City Art colony.
In 1934 he became Grant Woodıs assistant and supervised the mural
project ³Where Tillage Begins, the Other Arts Follow² installed in the
University at Ames Iowa.
From 1934 to 1942 Francis McCray was associated with
the University of Iowa Art Department where he taught painting, life drawing,
lithography, and supervised graduate students in painting.
Francis
and Dorothy McCray came to Silver City in 1948 when Dorothy McCray accepted an
appointment at New Mexico State Teacherıs College as a Associate Professor of
Art, and Francis was appointed Artist in Residence.
Francis
McCray died in January 1960.
Inspired by his dedication to the arts, the University Art Gallery was
established in 1960 and named in his memory. The first show in the gallery was of his paintings,
drawings, and sketches. Those
paintings of his included in the exhibit are on loan from the McCray family
collection.
Artist Statement for Francis McCray
Thinking
of painting as a symbolic expression and communication of human concern,
Francis (Mac) McCray felt that to reach a paintingıs fullest realization, it
should make use of as many channels for response as possible within the utility
of the whole presentation.
McCrayıs
paintings therefore can be recognized as Classical in content and organization,
yet have elements of surrealism, fantasy, or a metaphysical quality. Or, they can simply be enjoyed for
their regional references, or for their abstract qualities.
I
realize that it is presumptuous of me to attempt to describe Macıs work; to
quote a notation in one of his sketchbooks:
³You cannot talkı a good painting. It must speak for itself.²
Dorothy
McCray, Jan. 2005