Faulkner, Barry, 1881-1966

Artist.

Muralist, painter, and teacher; Keene, N.H.

Studied with George de Forest Brush, Abbott Handerson Thayer, and at the American Academy in Rome. Was a trustee of the McDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H. Died Oct. 27, 1966.

Artist (July 12, 1881 - Oct 27, 1966).

Barry Faulkner was a noted illustrator, painter, and muralist from Keene, NH who is perhaps best remembered for his murals in the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, picturing people and events of the American Revolution and the founding of the Republic. As a boy, he studied with his relative, the painter and naturalist Abbott Thayer, and as a young man he was a student of August Saint-Gaudens in Cornish, NH. Faulkner's circle of friends included some of the noteworthy artists, writers, and personalities of his day, including writers William James, Padraic Colum, Witter Bynner, architect Eric Gugler, artists Paul Manship, John LaFarge, and James Earle Fraser, and many in the intellectual and artistic community in Nelson, NH, including Olivia Rodham. Faulkner graduated from Exeter Academy and entered Harvard in 1899 but spent only a year there before leaving to pursue artistic opportunities in Italy and to study with Saint-Gaudens. He would move between Italy and New York for the next several years, developing his craft and his reputation as a muralist and illustrator. His subjects include historical and allegorical portrayals of people, places, and events. In 1961 he was awarded a medal for distinguished contribution from the American Academy in Rome. In 1936, Faulkner and his sister Katherine bought a farm on West Hill in Keene, naming it the "Bounty"; he built a studio there and moved between Keene and his home in New York City. He moved to Keene permanently in 1965. In addition to the murals at the National Archives, Faulkner's murals adorn the Rockefeller Center in New York, the state capitols in Oregon and New Hampshire, and the John Hancock Building in Boston. A mural is also housed at the Historical Society of Cheshire County in Keene.

Barry Faulkner (1881-1966) was a muralist, painter, and teacher from Keene, N.H.

Studied with George de Forest Brush, Abbott Handerson Thayer, and at the American Academy in Rome. He was a trustee of the McDowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H.

Francis Barrett Faulkner was born on July 12, 1881 in Keene, New Hampshire. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and went on to study at Harvard College. Around this same time, Faulkner began an apprenticeship with his cousin and painter Abbott Handerson Thayer and painter George de Forest Brush. He also met sculptors James Earle Fraser and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both of whom became Faulkner's lifelong friends.

In 1901, Faulkner traveled to Italy for the first time with Thayer and his family. He returned to New York in 1902 and studied at the Art Students League and Chase School. He also completed illustration work for Century magazine.

In 1907, Faulkner won the Rome Prize Fellowship from the American Academy in Rome. shortly thereafter, he left to study in Italy for three years, studying with George de Forest Brush and befriending sculptor Paul Manship. Upon his return in 1910, he started working on his first mural, commissioned by the wife of railroad executive E.H. Harriman. Having found his niche, Faulkner continued taking mural commissions until his career was interrupted by World War I and his service in the camouflage section of the army. Shortly after the war, he completed a mural for the marine headquarters in Quantico, Virginia.

Between 1923-1924, Faulkner worked in collaboration with Eric Gugler and Paul Manship to create the American Academy in Rome war memorial. Also following the war, Faulkner completed murals for the Eastman School of Music in 1922, the Rockefeller Center in 1932, and the National Archives in 1936. That same year, Faulkner bought and refurbished a house named "The Bounty" in Keene, New Hampshire, and built a studio nearby. In 1930, he was elected as a trustee of the American Academy in Rome.

During the 1940s, Faulkner created murals for numerous public buildings and sites around New Hampshire including the Senate Chambers in Concord, the Elliot Community Hospital, Keene National Bank, and the Cheshire County Savings Bank in Keene. During his final decades, Faulkner wrote an unpublished manuscript on the history of art in the Connecticut River Valley entitled A Neighborhood of Artists, and his posthumously published memoirs, Sketches of an Artist's Life. Faulkner died in 1966, in Keene, New Hampshire.