Frank Armington Biography

Frank Armington

Canadian

1876-1941

Biography

Printmaker Frank Armington was born in Fordwich, Ontario, Canada on July 28, 1876. He studied under J.W.L. Forster in Ontario from 1892 to 1899, followed by study at the Acadmie Julian in Paris under Benjamin Constant, and at Chaumiere under Lucien Simon. Around this time he met his future wife, Canadian artist Caroline Wilkinson, whom he married while they were in Paris. In 1901 they returned to the U.S. and Frank began teaching in Winnipeg. Among his students was Robert Fulton Logan. 

In 1906 the Armingtons returned to Paris and established themselves as ex-pat landscape artists, becoming members of the Societe Nationale de la Gravure Originale en Noir, the Societe des Gravures Francais, and the American Federation of Arts. They frequently participated in exhibitions in French and American exhibitions throughout their time in France, from 1906 to 1939.

With the onset of World War II, the artists returned to the United States, settling in New York. However, Caroline died shortly thereafter. Frank remarried in 1940, but he himself died in 1941. 

Retrospectives of the two artists' work were held in 1990 and in 2006 in Ontario, Canada.