Frank Bicknell (1866-1943)

Frank Bicknell was born in August, Maine in 1866. He began his studies with Albion Bicknell in Malden, Massachusetts, and then moved to New York City. After many years in New York, Bicknell was invited to Old Lyme, Connecticut around 1902. Soon thereafter, Bicknell became a prominent member of the Old Lyme group of American Impressionists.

Staying at the well-known artist enclave, the Florence Griswold House, Bicknell painted images of the environs of Old Lyme. Florence Griswold opened her timeworn family home to artists searching for a quiet country retreat where they could rejuvenate their spirits and find sources of inspiration. The group was known as the Lyme Art Colony and the Griswold home became the center of Impressionism in America. In this stimulating environment of artistic camaraderie, inexpensive lodging, and picturesque scenery, Frank Bicknell found a sanctuary of inspiration and produced some of his most spectacular paintings during this time.

In 1913, he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design and for six years from 1919 taught at the College of Fine Arts at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. He was also a member of the Salmagundi Club, the Lotus Club, the National Arts Club, the MacDowell Club, the National Academy, the American Art Association of Paris, the Pittsburgh Art Association and the Watercolor Society. He died in 1943 in a nursing home in Essex, but left a legacy as one of the most a important and prolific artists of the Old Lyme colony.