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FRANCIS R. MEISCH

 

 

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Francis R. Meisch (1915-1998)

 

Francis R. Meisch was born in 1915 in Saint Paul. He attended Saint Paul schools, and the University of Minnesota for his Bachelor of Architecture degree. He received his Master in Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and went on to teach architectural subjects, freehand drawing and watercolor in the Department of Architecture at North Dakota State College.

 

He began exhibiting etchings and dry points in 1937 and watercolors in 1942.   His first watercolor sale was to the late Juliana Force, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art.  After that his work appeared in more than 170 local, regional and national exhibitions and in sixteen one man shows.  His work received many awards and is represented in numerous public, private and commercial collections throughout the United States.  His watercolors appeared in the Ford Times, Northwestern Bell Telephone Company publications, and other publications.

 

Meisch was employed as an architect by Northwest Airlines (1942-1950), where he was responsible for designing hangars, shops, restaurants, offices, aircraft modification centers, passenger station facilities, and airports. He was also part of several technical committees responsible for airport design across the nation, which included input into the redesign of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport (MSP). Meisch was employed at the Cerny Associates architectural firm from 1954-1964.

 

Meisch had a strong, sure sense of color, a love of nature and an ever-observing eye.  Though his watercolors reflect his extensive world travels, the scenes of Minnesota remain the most sought after paintings.  He was a member and president of the Minnesota Artists Association, and a member of the Twin Cities Watercolor Society and other artists' groups.  He died January 16, 1998, in Edina, Minnesota.

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