FREDERICK MELVILLE DUMOND

"BEAUTY AND THE BEASTS"

OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED

AMERICAN, DATED 1914

49 X 28 INCHES

Frederick Melville DuMond was an American painter who was born in Rochester, New York on July 15, 1867 of French parents, the brother of future painter, Frank Vincent DuMond.

He was a graduate of the Mechanics' Institute in Rochester and of the Acadèmie Julian in Paris under Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Benjamin-Constant Corman, J.P. Laurens and Henri Doucet.

During the early years of his art career, DuMond was mainly active in France where, with his brother Frank, he established a summer art school at Crecy in 1894. He taught there until 1900.

Returning to New York, he taught at the National Academy of Design in 1908, and upon going to California in the winter of 1910, at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design.

From 1909 to 1912 DuMond worked in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, making paintings of the Grand Canyon, Pueblo cliff dwellings and other southwestern scenes. Three years were spent painting in the Southwest before settling on a ranch in Monrovia, California where he became known for his Mojave Desert landscapes.

He also continued to work abroad where he was well-known as an animal and desert painter. DuMond's art work is held in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Santa Fe Railroad Collection.

DuMond died at his home in Monrovia on May 25, 1927.

REFERENCES: Benezit, E. Dictionnaire Critique...Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs...Temps. Paris: Librarie Grund. 1976. Dawdy, Doris Ostrander. Artists of the American West: A Biographical Dictionary. [1974] 3 vols. Chicago: Swallow Press. 1985. Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art. Connecticut: Sound View Press. 1985. 1985. Hughes, Edan Milton. Artists in California: 1786-1940. San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company. 1986. Melton Art Reference Library. 4300 N. Sewell; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.