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... famous landscape artist's gift still pays dividends
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Gendrot:
There are many kinds of love, the love that brings two people together in marriage, love of children, family, culture and a larger circle of humanity. In the array of Valentine's Day stories we might pause to remember a local historical figure who lived in our fair city for a brief time long ago and felt enamored with the place, the artist Felix Albert Gendrot (1866–1955). A painter, sculptor and art instructor, Gendrot was born in Cambridge, Mass. to French immigrant parents Pierre and Marie. He lived in Melrose during a formative childhood. After early training at Massachusetts State Normal Art School (now known as Mass College of Art) he studied in Paris at the Academy Julian under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin-Constant, also under sculptors Denis Puech and Raoul Verlet. Gendrot is best known for his landscapes. A member of the famed “Boston School” of artists, he taught and lectured here and in Cleveland. The Copley Society archives numerous Gendrot drawings. Gendrot’s admiring impressions of Melrose stayed with him, the elegant architecture, tree-lined streets, parks and people. Gendrot ultimately married widowed patron, Almira Torry Blake Fenno, a woman much older whose portrait now hangs in Melrose Library. Both shared a love of and dedication to art. After her passing Gendrot shared his inheritance. Upon his own death gratitude shown for our community established a permanent trust fund in honor of his father. Gendrot’s gift in perpetuity purchases art books for the library, each year expanding the existing collection. These fine art treasures are readily available on open shelves unlike limited access in other major libraries where one must view volumes on site, not be allowed to sign them out. We are fortunate to have this truly stellar resource, quite unusual for a suburban library. Over an ensuing century and even in an age of computers the work of visual artists is still sought in books. Interested borrowers from far and wide continue to come discover what Felix Gendrot has made possible and hold in their hands his special valentine to us. March 2, 2012
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