Fred Nagler was born in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he first studied wood carving. From 1914 to 1917, he studied at The Art Students League of New York, where his professors included Tom Fogerty, Frank Dumond, Frederick Bridgman, and Robert Henri. At the Art Students League he won the Bridgman Scholarship and Annual Portrait Prize, a competition juried by George Bellows and John Sloan. Subsequently, he became a member of the Art Students League Board of Control. In 1940, he became president of the Bronx Artists Guild.
Nagler was offered many prestigious positions during his career, including three art department chairmanships: at the Connecticut College for Women, The State University of Iowa (upon the death of Grant Wood), and the Eastman School of Art.
Fred Nagler has been called a painter’s painter which can be substantiated by the fact that he won four of the major awards given by artist juries during his time: The Payne Gold Medal and Purchase Prize at a Virginia Museum Biennial; the Clark Prize and Silver Medal at a Corcoran Biennial; the first Altman Figure Prize at a National Academy Annual; and a grant from the Academy of Arts and Letters.
AWARDS
Childe Hassam Purchase Award, American Academy of Art and Letters
Halgarten Prize, National Academy of Design, (for an artist under 35)
John Barten Payne Gold Medal and Purchase, Virginia Museum
Clark Prize and Silver Medal, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Altman Prize, National Academy of Design
Carnegie Prize, National Academy of Design
Lamont Prize, Audubon Artists
Fabre Prize, Audubon Artists
First Prize, Museum of Springfield, Massachusetts
First Prize, New Haven Museum
WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
United States Embassies around the world
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
National Academy of Design, New York
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Nebraska Art Museum
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California
Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts
Dwight Chapel, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Holy Redeemer Church, Reading, Pennsylvania
University of Texas, Austin, Texas
Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Christ Church, Riverdale, New York City
Riverdale Presbyterian Church, New York City
Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana
Faith Church, Springfield, Massachusetts
The Wesley Foundation of Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Hicksville, Long Island, New York
The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania