Frank Licsko
Licsko was born in Hungary. In his first days as a new immigrant to Canada in 1957, the eleven year old was shown a documentary film about Canada's most famous artists, the Group of Seven. Their paintings landscapes paintings, became a powerful influence, in addition to the political and religious art he had been already been exposed to in Budapest.
He started painting when he was thirteen in Stratford, Ontario, and quickly became known as a local prodigy. His paintings were being collected before he graduated high school. He moved to Toronto, where he enrolled in the Ontario College of Art. He quit the college after three weeks, disappointed that he already knew more about the technique of realism than his instructors. Frank is one of the few artists that has never held a job outside of his art. From early on he developed a following of collectors who appreciated his unique imagination and his devotion to detail, making each work a small masterpiece. At the age of twenty, he was commissioned to paint the portrait of the then US vice-president, Hubert Humphrey. Frank was invited to California, where he found great success in the galleries and very quickly became internationally known through the publishing of his limited edition prints. Licsko originals are in collections all over the world including the Emperor Akihito of Japan, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the late actor,Larry Hagman, and corporate collections including Technicolor, and Tehama, Clint Eastwoodʼs luxury estate development company. Frank now lives and paints on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. |