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Artist Paul Fontaine was born in 1913 in Worcester, MA to Elzear and Mary Fontaine,
who
encouraged his artistic talents as a teenager. Fontaine enrolled in the Worcester
Art Museum
School following completion of high school, and remained there from 1932-1935. Fontaine
graduated in 1935 and followed his studies with a six-month term in the Civilian
Conservation Corps. In 1936, Fontaine worked as a Works Progress Administration painter
in
Springfield, MA, painting murals in the city’s Post Office under Italian-born American
painter Umberto Romano. The murals, like many WPA works, contain images of local history
in
a bold and expressive style. The six panels now decorate Sprintfield's federal building. |
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Following his months with the WPA, Fontaine continued his studies at the Yale School
of Art
with the help of a grant from the Worcester Art Museum. Fontaine enrolled at Yale
in 1938
and graduated among the top of his class in 1940. Yale awarded Fontaine the Winchester
Wirt
Traveling Fellowship the same year. The fellowship awarded the recipient living expenses
for
a year to allow for study and work. Fontaine chose to spend the year in the Caribbean
due to
wartime exigences in Europe. |
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Virginia Hammersmith Fontaine, often called Ginny, was born in 1915 to Paul and Myrtle
Hammersmith of Milwaukee, WI. She attended the Yale School of Art and trained as a
painter,
but did not graduate. Virginia and Paul met as students and married in the summer
of 1940,
following Paul's graduation. Following their wedding the Fontaines went to the British
Virgin Islands, primarily Tortola, on Paul's fellowship, where he first began to explore
abstract forms in his watercolors. Virginia was a skilled photographer and her images,
diaries, and extensive letters to family and friends document their experiences in
the
Caribbean. |
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The Fontaines returned to Worcester in 1941, where Paul held a factory job and painted
regularly, successfully submitting a number of watercolors for art show tours sponsored
by
the government. He also co-founded the Worcester Artists Group with fellow artist
Herbert
Barnett and showed in Boston at the Grace Horn Gallery. Together Paul and Virginia
built a
studio by hand behind his mother’s house, known as “Rocky Tor,” and Virginia worked
as an
inspector at a small arms manufactoring company for a time. Fontaine was drafted in
1943 and
sent to Italy where he worked as an illustrator, also painting commissions for the
Army and
Red Cross. Fontaine frequently painted semiabstract watercolors of the Italian countryside,
maintaining his commitment to a career as an artist. The Fontaines’ first daughter,
Carol,
was born in December 1942 in Worcester, MA. While Paul was in Europe, Viginia and
Carol
lived first with the Fontaines, a situation that Virginia did not find particularly
pleasant. She eventually moved to live with her family in Milwaukee. She was able
to find
employment at the Milwaukee Art Institute where she began honing her skill working
with
artists and promoting Paul's work. |
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Starting in 1945, Paul worked as an Army cartographer in Paris, finally settling in
Frankfurt as the graphic director for the Army’s regional headquarters. There, his
work
included posters and brochures. Virginia and Carol joined him in Frankfurt in 1946.
Paul
stayed in this position until 1953, which allowed him the opportunity to live in Frankfurt
as the city and its artistic community recovered from war. During the late 1940s,
Paul’s
Italian watercolors also toured to acclaim in the United States in an exhibition organized
by Virginia Fontaine that brought his work to Milwaukee and Ripon, WI; Kalamazoo,
MI;
Bloomington, IN; and Boston, MA. In August 1948, the Fontaines’ second daughter, Eugenie
(Paula), was born in Frankfurt. |
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The Fontaines’ apartment in Frankfurt soon became noted for its continual parade of
artists, writers, and musicians, known a place where artists could meet, share ideas,
and
get to know one another in postwar Frankfurt. Virginia's goal was not only community
building, but to introduce Paul to European artists and make him part of the artistic
circle.
This circle included Hans Hartung, Bauhaus painter and weaver Ida Kerkovius, sculptors
Ewald
Mataré and Karl Hartung, Otto Ritschl, and Willi Baumeister. The Fontaines also bought
and
otherwise acquired a strong collection of modern and abstract European art. |
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In 1953, the Fontaines moved to Darmstadt where Paul became the art director for Stars
and
Stripes, the Army’s European circular. He created cartoons to go along with editorials
and
designed the feature section. This was his principal source of income until his retirement
in 1969 at age 55. The Fontaines’ third daughter Claudia was born in Darmstadt in
September
1956. During this period, Virginia began to focus more on her own work, which included
curating and photography. She arranged the visit of a print collection from Czechoslovakia
(Oregon State University, 1968) and contemporary German prints (Oregon State University,
1963). She also contributed as translator to a monograph on Hans Hartung, and extensively
photographed Mary Wigman and her dance company. |
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From 1947 onward, Paul Fontaine remained committed to exploring the abstract in his
art,
with increasingly large canvases and defiantly non-representational forms in oil,
watercolor
and acrylic, often with bold areas of color and naturalistic hues. For the next 23
years,
Virginia was also committed to the success of Paul as an artist and continued to introduce
him to fellow artists, curators, and galleries, earning him a number of shows including
the
Stedelijk Amsterdam, Salon des Realite Nouvelles, Museum (1962), Neue Darmstädter
Sezession
(1960s), and the Worthington Gallery in Chicago. Although he had frequent showings
in
Germany, Fontaine’s work was not often seen in the United States despite being exhibited
alongside that of artists like Alexander Calder. |
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Following Paul's retirement in 1969, the Fontaines moved to Guadalajara, Mexico where
they
continued to serve as a locus for artists. During his time in Mexico, Paul's paintings
became bolder and more colorful, and he experimented with larger canvases. He exhibited
at
the University of Colima, Jalico in 1970. The pair enjoyed their years in Mexico.
Virginia
died in 1991 at the age of 75. Following her death, Paul moved to Austin, TX to be
nearer to
his daughters. He died in 1996 at the age of 82. |
