LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Oil on canvas

Measurements:

24.00 in. (60.96 cm.) (height) by 30.00 in. (76.20 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed lower right: Klepper; Titled on the reverse: Murdoch's

Provenance:

Private collection, Texas; Heritage Auctions, November 16, 2013, lot 76011; Acquired by the present owner from the above. A Plano native reared in McKinney, Texas, Frank Klepper studied at the Aunspaugh Art School in Dallas and at the Art Institute of Chicago. After serving in World War I, he studied in Paris and Brussels. Following his return to McKinney, he founded a plein air painting school, the Frank Klepper Sketch Club, in 1930. He also exhibited at the 1912 Cotton Carnival at Galveston and in the 1929 San Antonio Competitive. Klepper's Murdoch's (Murdoch Beach, Galveston, Texas) shows the probable influence of Thomas Eakins's Swimming--previously called The Swimming Hole-purchased by the Fort Worth Art Association in 1925. It is likely Klepper saw Swimming in person in Fort Worth, especially given the palette of the painting, which is darker than we normally see in his work. This painting has been conserved since it was offered in 2011.