Florence Ware (1891-1971), Young Woman with Fruit, c. 1930, oil on canvas, 23 13/16 x 30 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of Edward Girard and Ruth Hale, 2008.
On May 6th, we celebrate the birthday of Utah artist Florence Ware. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, she worked professionally as a painter, illustrator, costume designer, muralist, and interior designer for many years. Ware painted for the Works Progress Administration, creating various murals during the Great Depression. After an 18-month tour of Europe and the Near East, she became the first President of the Association of Utah Artists in 1940 and taught at the University of Utah for 25 years. Ware was constantly fascinated by color and light, and loved creating scenes of humans in nature. This love is brilliantly shown in Young Girl with Fruit, as her vibrant colors leap from the canvas and the textured brushwork infuses the work with life.