We are looking everywhere for Frank Ashford’s paintings. In a newspaper article from the 1950s, it was mentioned that a donation was made by John F. Douglas to Pomona College in Claremont, CA of two paintings by Frank Ashford. Douglas worked for the Carnation Milk company and purchased several Ashford paintings. He was a big fan and friend of Ashford. He even tried to promote Ashford by writing him a press release to better promote himself and his distinctions. Ashford was very modest and probably never used the press release. Fortunately, Pomona College has an impressive art collection to this day, well documented online. When searching their online resource, an entry popped up featuring “Ashford” but no picture. It described the painting as flowers in a vase on a table. I inquired via email with the college and they did some digging. They found no record of the donation, but did take a snapshot of the painting referenced in their archive. This is the painting. Their database is now updated with this image and lot more details about Frank Ashford, now that they know what the signature, Ashford, represents. It is dated 1916 and the size is 25.25 x 31.5 inches. We wish to extend our thanks to Pomona College for checking this out for us and contributing a photo of their lovely piece. At this point, they don’t know the whereabouts of the second painting. Flowers similar to these can be seen in Woman in Pink.

Used with permission from Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College.