Broadmoor Art Academy - Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

In 1919, the Broadmoor Art Academy was founded with a vision of creating a new art institution of national stature. The Academy was originally located in a converted mansion on the corner of Cascade and Dale in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The building had previously been the home of the school's founders, Spencer and Julie Penrose - the owners of the Broadmoor Hotel. Art instructors and students alike brought their diverse styles and talents to Colorado, lured by the exquisite landscapes that only the west affords.

The Academy engaged prominent artists as instructors including John F. Carlson, Robert Reid, Birger Sandzén, Ernest Lawson, Boardman Robinson, George Biddle, Randall Davey, Ernest Fiene, and Peppino Mangravite. These artists helped to attract a diverse student body and to garner recognition for the Broadmoor Art Academy in the American Art centers of the East and Midwest.

In 1934, the Academy moved in to a new expansive facility with classrooms, studios, a performing arts theater, music room, library, and a number of galleries. From that point forward, the Academy became known as the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

Although it appeared toward the end of the heyday of American art colonies, the Broadmoor Academy and its successor institution, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, functioned for more than a generation as an important cultural center in the Rocky Mountain West. It was a nationally recognized art colony on par with those in Santa Fe, Taos, Woodstock and Provincetown.

This page illustrates works of art created by many of the artists who were associated with the Broadmoor Academy during their careers.

Harold Skene 1883-1978
Desert Gold (Southwestern Desert Landscape, Autumn), 1959
 
oil,
30 x 36 inches
Reference: 22611
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Abstract Buildings), 1951
 
oil,
19 x 24 inches
Reference: 7505
Untitled (Bird Motif), circa 1980
 
oil,
29 ¼ x 27 inches
Reference: 26609
Edgar Britton 1901-1982
Untitled (Mountain Landscape with Snow), 1945
 
gouache,
12 ½ x 16 inches
Reference: 24731
 
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Abstract in Gray, White, Orange, Red, Yellow and Black ), 1963
 
oil,
16 x 20 inches
Reference: 13260
Edward Marecak 1919-1993
Witches Entrance, 1960s
 
mixed media,
35 x 23 ¾ inches
Reference: 23153
Lewis Tilley 1921-2005
Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait), 1947
 
gouache,
17 ¾ x 19 ¼ inches
Reference: 25843
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Abstract Expressionist Composition in Red, Blue, Black, Yellow, Red-Orange), 1951
 
oil,
15 ½ x 11 ½ inches
Reference: 13384
 
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Black Dog), 1961
 
oil,
20 x 16 inches
Reference: 13258
Primordial Landscape
 
oil,
18 x 20 inches
Reference: 26614
Birger Sandzen 1871-1954
River Motif; edition of 50, 1918
 
lithograph,
16 x 24 inches
Reference: 19519
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Cripple Creek or Victor mine, Colorado), 1940
 
watercolor,
4 ½ x 5 ¾ inches
Reference: 25824
 
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Houses and Tree, Colorado), 1942
 
graphite,
7 x 7 inches
Reference: 14119
Edgar Britton 1901-1982
Untitled (Two Figures)
 
pen,
9 x 12 inches
Reference: 25894
George Biddle 1885-1973
Buffalo Dance, 1937
 
lithograph,
10 ¾ x 12 ½ inches
Reference: 23558
Charles Bunnell 1897-1968
Untitled (Houses and Hills), circa 1935
 
graphite,
22 x 25 ¾ inches
Reference: 13481