Frank Wagner

Frank H. Wagner was born and lived his childhood in Brightwaters, NY close to one of the many bays on the South Shore of Long Island. He was a long-time New York City illustrator who, late in his career, became known for marine painting. He trained on a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at Pratt Institute in New York. This education was followed by a European Fellowship Grant by the Leopold Schepp Foundation for postgraduate work at the Rijksmuseum School in Amsterdam, Holland. Returning to the U.S. in his mid- twenties, he became an illustrator in New York City and then in a Detroit studio. As an illustrator, he used that varied experience in illustrating for various airlines, auto manufacturers, and publishers.

At the Mystic Connecticut International Exhibition in 1988, he won an Award of Excellence. Frank’s painting of the 1992 America’s Cup Race was used for the official limited edition print of the race. It showed the ultimate winner America 3 skippered by Bill Koch and Buddy Melges, defeating the Italian entry, Il Morro di Venezia, skippered by Paul Cayard. Wagner’s limited edition print of only 375, featured the signatures of all three skippers. An article highlighting his Marine Art was published in Nautical Quarterly magazine (Issue #48, Winter 1989).

In 1994, he moved to England and was invited by the Royal Exchange Art Gallery in London to exhibit in three one-man shows. The Royal Engineers commissioned his last major work, which was officially presented to their Patron H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in May 1996.

His work has been on permanent display at the Smith Gallery in New York City, and Longfleet House of Barnstable, Massachusetts has published an edition of his prints in a series called "The Classic Twelves."