Fred Wagner

Following his years of study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fred Wagner went to San Antonio to paint portraits in 1886. He also traveled to Los Angeles to do portraiture. He returned to Philadelphia in 1902, joining the art staff of the Philadelphia Press, and during the 1920s teaching summer school for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at his own school. He was one of the early Impressionist painters of the area, devoting much of his work to the landscapes of Bucks County and Chester County. Wagner won considerable renown for his Pennsylvania Railroad Pictures including the Broad Street Station (at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) and 30th Street Station. In addition to oils, Wagner painted smaller watercolors and pastels, many of them being sketches for larger oils. These were described as reflecting a "dainty and poetic feeling...capturing nature unawares...in her more elusive moods."

Education and Training
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1878, 1881, 1882

Teachers and Influences
Fred Wagner studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Connection to Bucks County:
Fred Wagner resided in Philadelphia but his landscapes were of New Hope and the surrounding Bucks County area.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Art Alliance, 1922
Fred Wagner Memorial Exhibition of Oils, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1961

Major Group Exhibitions
Armory Show, New York, New York, 1913
Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1923
Philadelphia Sesqui-centennial International Exposition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1926
National Academy of Design, New York, New York,1907, 1925, 1928
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1882-1940
The Corcoran Gallery of Art Biennial, Washington, DC, 1902-1935

Major Collections
Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. DaCosta (Gladwyne -Mrs. DaCosta is F. Wagner's grandneice)
Mrs. E. Leidy Brendlinger, Norristown, Pennsylvania
Mr. and Mrs. Oliver L. Smith. Worcester, Pennsylvania
Mr. and Mrs. Stuart H. Carroll, Strafford
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Canty, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mr. Edward Longstretch
Mr. Earl Horter
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia Art Alliance
Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Pennsylvania
Cleveland Museum, Ohio

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Summer School, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, 1920-1927
Later opened his own school at Addingham, Pennsylvania

Major Awards
Memorial Exhibition, Zabriskie Gallery, New York, New York, 1959
Fellowship Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1914
Honorable Mention, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1922