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Lynn Fausett
Lynn Fausett was born in Price, Utah in 1894. He became an established muralist in New York before returning to Utah. While he was in New York, he had an important role in restructuring the Art Students League. He died in 1977.
Fausett attended the University of Utah in 1913 and 1914. He arrived in New York for study at the Art Students League in 1922 where Robert Henri, Boardman Robinson, Mahonri Young, and Kenneth Hays Miller were faculty members. He also studied fresco painting in France and mosaics in Germany and Italy. Fausett continued his studies in Europe at the Fontainebleu beginning in 1928. When he returned to New York, he served on the Board of Control for the Art Students League from 1927 to 1932 and as its president from 1932 to 1936 when he had a role in restructuring the League's organization.
Fausett returned to Utah in 1938 and became involved with a WPA–sponsored project, a mural entitled First Marriage depicting Mormon pioneer history for the Price, Utah Post Office completed in 1941. He supervised a large painted reproduction of prehistoric pictographs, the Barrier Canyon Mural.
Biography adapted from Springville Museum of Art.
Lynn Fausett was born February 27, 1894, in Price, Utah -- just 15 years after the first white people settled there. He was the oldest of eight children and encouraged his younger brother, Dean, also to become an artist. Later, Dean did just that.
Lynn studied art at Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and the Art Students League of New York, while living on very modest means. He later served as President of the Art Students League for 14 years. He was honored for stabilizing the league, which was reeling from the clashes of artistic rivalries on the staff and in the membership and was in financial trouble. During his presidency, the League liberalized its requirements for membership and placed a three-year limitation on Board membership. This condition continues today. Under Fausett, the League embarked on a greatly broadened approach to teaching and included teachers with radically different points of view on the staff.
Fausett also studied fresco painting in France and mosaics in Germany and Italy. He worked on murals for numerous important buildings including the Nebraska State Capitol, St. Bartholomew Church in New York, Irving Trust Co. in New York, Wall Street in New York City, the Foreign Exchange Telephone Building in New York City, the Baltimore Trust Co. in Maryland, Union Station in Kansas City, at the Chicago Worlds Fair, and many others.
He worked on four murals under WPA sponsorship, beginning with a mural for his home town in the Price City Hall, which involved nearly two years of work. Fausett also managed to complete other commissions including a large mural in the Union Building of the University of Wyoming and another work at the White Pine High School in Ely, Nevada. In addition, he painted many murals for the L.D.S. Church, including a Mural commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the Primary Association (the children's auxiliary).
Fausett's paintings utilized a technique employing gauche and tempera with oil varnishes rather than oil pigment itself. His earlier style partook of the 1930s American Scene art as popularized by Reginald Marsh and others. Later he overly employed photographs, especially upon his return to Utah in the 1960s. From about 1942 on, Fausett produced easel paintings of historical subjects and of impressions he retained from his childhood, including military life, ranch scenes, cattle drives, and various recollections of Utah Canyon country.
Lynn Fausett earned a place in Who's Who in New York in 1938, in Who's Who in America in 1940, and was twice listed in more recent years in Who's Who in American Art.
Biography courtesy of Springville Museum of Art.
Newspaper Articles
"Art Canvass." The Deseret News, January 20, 1991.
"Capturing The Great Mormon Saga." The Deseret News, July 24, 1988.
"Museum Dedication At CEU." The Deseret News, May 31, 1991.
Books
Beckham, Sue Bridwell. Depression Post Office Murals and Southern Culture: a Gentle Reconstruction. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
Davenport, Ray. Davenport's Art Reference. Ventura, CA: Davenport's Art Reference, 2001.
Dawdy, Doris. Artists of the American West: A Biographical Dictionary. Chicago, IL: Sage Books, 1990.
Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson. ed. The Artists Bluebook: 29,000 North American Artists. Scottsdale, AZ: AskART.com, 2003.
Falk, Peter Hastings. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1999.
Hague, Donald V. "The Life and Work of Lynn Fausett." Masters thesis, University of Utah, 1975.
Haseltine, James L. 100 Years of Utah Painting: Selected Works from the 1840s to the 1940s. Salt Lake City, UT: Salt Lake Art Center, 1965.
Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge. Index of Artists, International-Biographical; Including Painters, Sculptors, Illustrators, Engravers and Etchers of the Past and the Present. Bath, UK: Kingsmead Reprints, 1976.
Olpin, Robert S., William C. Seifrit, and Vern G. Swanson. Artists of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1999.
Perlman, Bennard B. The Immortal Eight and its Influence: January 9-29, 1983. New York, NY: Art Students League of New York, 1983.
Samuels, Peggy and Harold Samuels. The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976.
Swanson, Vern G., Robert S. Olpin, and William C. Seifrit. Utah Art. Layton, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1991.
Swanson, Vern G, Robert S. Olpin, Donna Poulton, and Janie Rogers. 150 Years Survey Utah Art, Utah Artists. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2001.
Periodical
May, Stephen. "Euphoria, Turmoil, and Innovation." Southwest Art, August 1999.