History Center: Some 20th century artists of Boca Grande

BY KAREN GRACE
BOCA GRANDE HISTORY CENTER

Frank and Louise DuPont Crowninshield first came to Boca Grande in 1916 or 1917 having learned from Benny Crowninshield, Frank’s brother, of the large number of tarpon in local waters. By 1923, they were Florida residents with a house at First Street and Gulf Boulevard, the street west of Gilchrist that fronted on the Gulf of Mexico.

Frank was self-taught, and according to the Boca Grande Historical Society’s Connections “more reserved than his wife,” but noted for his “strong political opinions and delightful sense of humor.” 

He enjoyed fishing, hunting, sailing, writing about his boat “Cleopatra’s Barge,” and his family history and painting. 

Seventy one of his watercolors continue to exist, of which 22 show scenes of Boca Grande. Eight of these paintings are owned by the Boca Grande Health Clinic, and six of those eight are scenes of the Crowninshield House and its pool and gardens. The other two are of the rose garden at Peaches Point, a Crowninshield house in Marblehead, Mass. The paintings at the clinic were donated by Crowninshield’s niece, Toddy Hammond, after Frank’s death in 1951.

Frank’s painting style is described in the Connection’s article by the late Sara C. Junkin, an art historian whose family has wintered in Boca Grande for many years, as having “an expertise in the use of color and sophisticated brush work. Frank’s Boca Grande watercolors depict a way of life and a time when the island was much smaller and less complicated. They celebrate the beauty of the outdoor world of tropical gardens and Gulf views that characterize this community.” Crowninshield signed his paintings with “a three-pointed crown within a shield” as a visualization of his name.  

During his life, Crowninshield’s paintings were exhibited at the Stockbridge (Massachusetts) Art Association in 1925, 1930 and 1931, at a one-man show in New York’s Ferargil Gallery in 1944, and a final one-man show at the Delaware Museum of Art in 1951.  

Jack Barndollar first came to Boca Grande in 1959, staying for one day.  He and his wife, Betty, returned two years later and bought a house. In an earlier Boca Beacon article, Barndollar said that for him art was a hobby. “I’m no great artist. I’ve just been around a long time. I had been busy all my life, and when I retired I knew I had to have something to do when it rains.” His favorite artist, he noted, was Winslow Homer. He described that “Homer painted such wonderful watercolors on bright, white paper. The contrast between sky and water are incredible.” Barndollar’s paintings also show the sea and the sky, as well as boats and fish.

In addition to painting, Barndollar collected and built model ships.  He seems to have loved everything about the sea. Early in his time in Boca Grande, he opened a studio and gallery but it was not successful. “Neither the artist nor the town was ready for it,” Barndollar concluded in the article but added, “Things started coming together about 1968 when I started giving one-man shows for the benefit for the Boca Grande Health Clinic and the old Community House.”  He also began to exhibit in area art shows. In the 1977 Venice Art League’s all-media show he received a first prize. In addition, he illustrated the book, “A Very Special Island,” written by Betty.

Jack’s preferred place to show his paintings was in the island’s bars. Barndollar explained, “One of my funny quirks is to have paintings in every bar in town. I figure that people have more fun in bars than anywhere else.” According to Betty, Jack would give a painting to the Pink Elephant, the Laff-A-Lott or The Temptation, the only condition being the painting would hang there for as long as the bar existed. Even today, a Barndollar painting hangs over the cash register and several prints are displayed on the walls of the Temp bar.  

Wini Smart came to Gasparilla Island in 1976 on the advice of another Mainer who worked at the Inn. In her book, “Boca and Me,” she says, “I gasped when I crossed the bridge …the water was a luscious jade green changing to aqua and blue at its varied depths.” She described the town and high grass along the railroad tracks and in empty lots. At the south end of the island, the Lighthouse was closed, boarded up and in need of repair. “Even so, it looked picturesque, just what would inspire an artist.”  

Unlike Crowninshield and Barndollar, Wini Smart was a professionally trained artist. She had attended the Philadelphia College of Art and the Art Students League of New York City. She founded the Smart Studio Art Gallery in Northeast Harbor, Maine in 1967. When she made a second trip to the island in 1979, she came on her sailboat, the Winsome II. First the boat was anchored in the bayou near the Pink Elephant. Later it was at Whidden’s.

Soon Wini rented space in town and set up her first Boca Grande gallery. She searched the beach for scenes she then painted, and often painted various scenes at Whidden’s. She was busy since her paintings were selling. Later she learned that her boat had been under surveillance by the police, who were looking for a Maine boat that had been transporting drugs to the area. Fortunately, another sailboat that had traces of drugs was found at a different marina and Winsome II was cleared.  

In the 1980s the island began to develop. There were new condos like Sea Oats, and for Wini that meant new customers with wall space to fill. Wini continued to paint everything. She said she painted “the railroad freight station and the depot, the fishermen, both lighthouses, Whidden’s and the beautiful beach. Flowers tumbling over walls were lovely. It was necessary to buy new colors for my palette. Bougainvillea was a distinctive and brilliant rose color and the soft greens and aquas of the Gulf were unlike the colors of Maine waters.”

Wini became active in the newly formed Boca Grande Art Alliance, the predecessor to the current Art Center. Wini was president for several terms and managed to find a home for the organization in a room at the Community House, thus giving the group a place to work and to hold classes.  She also wrote several books including her autobiography, “A Long, Long Way” and “Whidden’s and Old Boca Grande.”

Wini painted professionally for more than 50 years and her paintings have been shown in major museums and galleries along the East Coast. Wini divided the year between summers at her gallery in Northeast Harbor and winters in Boca Grande until her death in 2017.

At top is one of Frank Crowininshield’s Boca Grande scenes.

Photos by the Boca Grande Historical Society and Boca Beacon

Editor’s note: The History Center is penning columns for the Beacon while they are closed.