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KIPP SOLDWEDEL began winning art prizes while he was at St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island. After graduating from Yale in 1936, he received a Prix de Rome scholarship and studied with John Frazer of the Rhode Island School of Design. For the next 22 years he devoted himself to portrait painting: the Duke of Windsor, Governor Allen Shivers of Texas, and Audie Murphy were among his more prominent portraits. But the sea kept creeping in, and Soldwedel paintings began to appear in yacht clubs from San Diego to Long Island Sound. On all occasions possible he got out on salt water; one memorable occasion was the 1936 race of the full rigged ship Joseph Conrad
Soldwedel, Tiajuana.
against the square-rigged yacht Seven Seas, Newport to Bermuda. The fascination of boats sailing hard is a hallmark of much of his work: the look of sunlight through taut, spray-wet canvas, the sense of a vessel moving with grace at the top of her form in tense competition. The square-rigged sailing ships that still cruise the oceans are another leading interest, and Kipp, who had painted so many America's Cup racers
sailing out of Newport, was naturally selected as artist of record for the Tall Ships race to Newport last summer, which immediately preceded Operation Sail in New York and other harbors. His infectious enthusiasm is harnessed to a studious approach, and he plans to complete a series, which already includes Eagle, Danmark, and others, to cover every square-rigged sail training ship afloat.
Braynard, The Tall Ships are Coming.
FRANK 0. BRA YNARD, who has just wound up his job as General Manager of Operation Sail-1976, is now Director of History for South Street Seaport Museum, an institution he helped to found. He is also a Trustee and founding member of the National Society, and of the Steamship Historical Society. Along the way, in what may justly be called an action-packed career, he has worked for
Moran Towing, the Maritime Administration, and in other ship-related jobs, finding time also to write eleven books, of which Lives of the Liners and Tugman 's Sketchbook remain in perenniel demand. He is currently working on the third volume of his epic history of the liner Leviathan. His art springs from what he calls his "lifelong passion for ships." 13