Photo by Amy Toensing
Frances Kornbluth
Frances Kornbluth (1920–2014) was an American painter who spent 57 summers working on Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine. She is known for her early abstract expressionist compositions and later vibrant natural abstractions.
I met Frances Kornbluth in 2010. At the time, I lived near her winter studio in Connecticut and discovered her work in a local gallery. We became friends, and I visited her summer studio on Monhegan Island several times. After Frances' passing in 2014, I became the manager of her estate. In this role, I administer the estate's collection database, oversee artwork storage and conservation, and collaborate with galleries and museums to mount exhibitions.
In addition to building and maintaining Frances' website, I contribute writing to publications related to her work. A recent example is the foreword to J. Kenneth Fine Art's 2025 exhibition catalog Frances Kornbluth: Rocks, Sea and Sky.