Franklin C. Watkins

His father's income fluctuated so that the family's financial situation was never stable, and this affected his education; he entered Groton School in 1908, but was forced to withdraw two years later due to money woes.

[1] His teacher there was Cecilia Beaux, and while a student he received two Cresson Traveling Scholarships; he left for two years to work in New York and earn money for tuition, but returned in 1916.

During World War I he painted camouflage for the United States Navy, and from 1918 to 1923 he was a commercial artist with the Philadelphia advertising firm of N. W.

[3] Its success opened doors for Watkins in Philadelphia society, and he soon gained a reputation as a portraitist, though he also painted still lifes, landscapes and animals.

Notable sitters included Jefferson B. Fordham, dean of the law school at the University of Pennsylvania; Eugene Strecker, the psychiatrist; Joseph S. Clark, Mayor of Philadelphia; and the three Beinecke brothers.

He was proud of his Southern heritage, and considered himself North Carolinian throughout his life, although he had not lived in the state save for a brief sojourn in Winston-Salem in 1910 and 1911.

Nevertheless, he exhibited work as part of the Piedmont Festival of Music and Art in 1944 and 1946, and he and his wife visited Reidsville not long before his death.

[1] In October 1972 the Vatican Museum planned to open a wing dedicated to contemporary art; Watkins was one of six Americans whose work was chosen for display.