Frank V. Dudley (November 14, 1868 – March 5, 1957) was an American landscape painter, known especially for his paintings of scenes in the Indiana Dunes.
He won the Logan Medal of the arts[1] Born of deaf parents on November 14, 1868, he was the eldest of three brothers.
The desires to ‘Save the Dunes’ began in the progressive era of Midwestern politics, centered in Chicago.
Industrial development was spreading along the shores of Lake Michigan towards the Dunes[2] In 1913 Dudley married for a second time, to Maida Lewis.
The trips into the dunes consisted of finding select vantage points from which to capture the scene on his easel in an all'aperto in a manner of broad, sweeping brushstrokes and textural contrasts of broken color.
[3] Industrial development from Chicago was fast moving east along the Lake Michigan shoreline into the Dunes.
Jens Jensen, an advocate for the Forest Preserves of Chicago, began leading a series of ‘Saturday Afternoon Walking Trips.’ Beginning in 1908, these trips traveled east of Gary to Mt.
These hikers joined together as the Prairie Club, with Jens Jensen and Frank’s brother Dudley as its first directors.
A year later the Art Institute presented Dudley with the Cahn Prize for his painting The Silent Sentinels.
While Dudley maintained his residence in the city, by 1921 he had designed and built a log cabin studio in Indiana, so that he could "bring the Dunes indoors."
From this primitive base the artist painted the surrounding area, capturing the quiet evanescence of its multi-faced simplicity.
"[3] To rally support for the Dunes movement, the Pairie Club staged an outdoor pageant in the spring of 1917.