Francis Lee Jaques oil painting (1920's)

Francis Lee Jaques (1887-1969) was an American wildlife painter.

Francis Lee Jaques hunted and trapped with his father and connected with editors and writers from major hunting magazines. While still a teenager, Lee paid ten dollars to buy a taxidermy shop in Aitkin, Minnesota. He toughed out a few winters scarcely earning enough money to survive and bartering paintings to pay for services. He alternated railroad work in northern Minnesota and taxidermy in Aitkin to make ends meet.

In 1918 Jaques was drafted into the army. During his six month stay in St. Emilione, France he recorded his surroundings in several small pencil drawings and watercolor paintings. He came home with a rank of Private First Class and returned to Duluth, Minnesota. There he met Clarence C. Rosenkranz, an artist of the impressionist style, who helped him mix color and express his feelings through art.

In 1924, Jaques sent some of his paintings to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. His talent was recognized and he was invited to join the museum's team as a background painter. The team traveled around the world gathering exhibit specimens. Jaques recorded his experiences throughout.

Jaques was almost 40 years old when he met Florence Page, a friend of his landlord. She was a budding writer just out of a prestigious school in the East, but was originally from Decatur, Illinois. Jaques and Florence found common ground in nature and developed a friendship. They were married in 1927.

Francis and Florence Page Jaques spent time camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Minnesota. The time provided inspiration for their now-famous books, Snowshoe Country and Canoe Country. Sales from these two books helped fund the Jaques' involvement in the conservation project at Susie Island in Lake Superior. The conservation area was later named The Francis Lee Jaques Memorial Preserve in his honor.

The Jaques lived in New York for over 25 years before returning to Minnesota to work at the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus. Jaques worked designing and painting diorama backgrounds until his retirement.

The Jaques' final years were spent living in North Oaks, a few miles north of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Jaques painted daily and created a mountainous body of work. Upon his death Florence completed and arranged for publication of his biography, Francis Lee Jaques: Artist of the Wilderness World. She donated his remaining art works to the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis and to the Saint Louis County Historical Society, Duluth MN.

Frances Lee Jaques died July 24, 1969 at the age of 81. His wife, Florence Page Jaques, died January 1, 1972 at 82 years of age.
Partial Bibliography

Books by Florence Page Jaques - Illustrated by Francis Lee Jaques

Canoe Country - 1938 - The University of Minnesota Press
The Geese Fly High - The University of Minnesota Press
Birds Across The Sky - The University of Minnesota Press
Snowshoe Country - 1944 - University of Minnesota Press (Awarded 1946 John Burroughs Medal)
Canadian Spring - 1947 - Harper & Brothers
As Far As The Yukon - 1951 - Harper & Brothers

See also

List of wildlife artists

References and external links

Francis Lee Jaques: Master Artist of the Wild
Jaques Art Center- includes brief biography
Russel Fink Gallery
American Museum of Natural History—Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, information on murals by Francis Lee Jaques