Francis Luis Mora (1874-1940) [RA 1899-1940]
[Born 1874 – died 1940]

SAL record control number: 67593 ;

Record level: Person ;

Record type: Artist ;

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Birth: 1874 ;
Death: 1940 ;
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Member: Resident artist member, 1899-1940 ;
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F. Luis Mora (1874-1940) was a painter, muralist, illustrator and teacher. He exhibited widely and received many important public and private commissions including the portrait of President Warren G. Harding on permanent display in the White House. He contributed countless illustrations to the most popular periodicals of his day such as Harper’s and Scribner’s. He was also a respected teacher at both William Merritt Chase’s New York School of Art and The Art Students League, New York. His father Domingo was a noted Spanish architectural sculptor and although Mora was born in Uruguay and raised in the United States he maintained close personal ties with his father’s homeland. Between 1886 and 1909 he made four extended journeys to Spain. During his1909 trip he rented a studio in Seville and visited numerous Spanish cities including the Mediterranean beach town, Valencia. There he met his old friend and fellow painter Joaquin Sorolla and worked alongside him executing seascapes and beach scenes. At this time he painted the oil Valencia Beach Scene, which was used as the basis for this lithograph printed in 1910 when he was back in New York. The following year he exhibited it and won the Shaw print prize of $500. It was an unexpected honor and Mora wrote in his diary, I had no idea that this would happen. It came like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.  Mora’s observations and experiences in Spain formed the basis for numerous artworks including Valencia Beach Scene. The work portrays the variety of daily activities on the beach; fishermen with their nets, oxen pulling boats to shore, women walking with baskets and children playing in the sand at the edge of the water. In contrast to many of his Spanish inspired works that were influenced by the dark palette and Diego Velazquez, El Greco and Francisco de Goya, Valencia Beach Scene uses a bright palette to convey the unique luminosity of Mediterranean light. (MLS) ;