James Edgar Forkner (1867-1945)
Forkner was known for his landscape, city and coastal views. This biography was submitted by Richmond Art Museum. Nationally known watercolorist, Edgar Forkner was born in 1867 in Richmond, Indiana. Equally adept at painting floral still-lives and harbor scenes, Forkner exhibited over twenty years in the Hoosier Salon Exhibition winning numerous awards for best watercolor. He received his training at the Art Student League in New York studying with J. Carroll Beckwith, Irving Wiles, William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent Dumond. An early member of the “Richmond Group”, Forkner worked with John Bundy and others to help establish the Art Association of Richmond. After a few years in Richmond, he traveled to Chicago where he taught watercolor in Auditorium Tower studios. Later he lived in Seattle, Washington becoming active in the Seattle art colony painting harbor scenes along the Pacific coast. His works are in the permanent collection of the Richmond Art Museum, Richmond, Indiana; Seattle Art Museum and the Chicago Art Institute. His Hoosier Salon award winner, Old Vase of Flowers, was exhibited in the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair… Submitted by: Shaun Dingwerth, Executive Director, Richmond Art Museum.
Information courtesy of Wickliff & Associates Auctioneers Inc.