Frances Stewart Badger (22 August 1904[1] – 3 November 1997[2]) was an American painter and muralist, and a prominent member of the Chicago, Illinois art scene during the 1930s and 1940s.
[1][3] Her family lost their fortune during the Great Depression, and Badger therefore qualified for the Illinois Art Project, run by the Works Progress Administration.
[3] In this role she created murals for numerous public buildings, such as libraries and schools, in Chicago, Oak Park and Joliet, many with rural and family themes.
[2] Badger's mural work included Joliet Township High School (1928, 1930), the Audy Home in Chicago, Cook County Children's Hospital, the Hall of Science at the Century of Progress exhibition in 1933 and Stevenson playground in Oak Park.
[3] In 1948, a profile in the Chicago Tribune said of Badger that "nearly all her work reflects to some degree the passion for nature which she acquired among the pleasant surroundings of her early life and which now, in maturity, is more intense than ever before.