Photographs of Artists in Their Studios Collection

Frank W. Stokes (1858-1955), a New York artist known for his paintings of the polar regions, which he called "icescapes," was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He first studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Stokes spent five years in France from 1887 to 1892, studying in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts under Jean Léon Gérôme (see Box 1, Folder 28), at the Académie Colarossi under Raphael Collin, and at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre (see Box 2, Folder 6).

Upon returning to America, Stokes served as staff artist for three Robert Edwin Peary expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic Regions from 1892 to 1894. He also joined Otto Nordenskjold in a 1901 expedition to Antarctica. These experiences provided inspiration for hundreds of paintings of the polar landscape. Stokes' "icescapes" were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, and other galleries and museums in London, Paris, and the U.S. He authored several illustrated articles based on his polar experiences for Century Magazine, including an "An Artist in the Antarctic" and "The Aurora Borealis."