Title: Lanford Monroe (1950-2000), Broken Bough
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 x 40
Frame dimensions: 41 1/8 x 50 7/8 x 2
Notes:

Lanford Monroe was born in Bridgewater, Connecticut in 1950 and raised in an artistic family. Her artistic journey was deeply rooted in her upbringing and environment: she was greatly influenced by her parents, illustrator C.E. Monroe and portraitist Betty Monroe, as well as family friends, John Clymer, Bob Kuhn, and Eric Sloane. Monroe completed her first commission at the age of six. She received the Hallmark Scholarship in Fine Art and began her formal art education at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, FL.

Monroe traveled extensively throughout North America, settling in many places for short periods of time. She ultimately settled in Taos, New Mexico. While Monroe’s early work primarily utilized watercolor, she eventually transitioned to oil painting, which allowed her to develop the impressionistic style characteristic of her later works. Inspired by landscapes and wildlife, her paintings often depict animals in soft focus within the greater context of atmospheric and meditative landscapes, reflecting how one glimpses animals in the wild. The subjects appear fleeting, yet perfectly at home in their environment.

Though Monroe's life was tragically cut short by a heart attack in 2000, her work is included in numerous corporate collections and museums, including the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum of Wildlife Art in Wausau, MN, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Southern Bell Collection, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, WY. In 2001, the first annual Lanford Monroe Award was presented in memory of her life and artistic accomplishments at the National Museum of Wildlife Art's Western Visions Show and Sale in association with Trailside Gallery in Jackson, WY.

The painting appears to be in very good condition with a small area of cracking likely due to impaction in the center of the painting located in the center tree trunk, barely visible. The frame appears to be in very good condition. The painting has been examined under blacklight and does not exhibit any indication of inpainting.

oil on canvas

signed lower right: Lanford Monroe