Donald Beauregard was born in Fillmore, Utah in 1884.  A modernist painter, his paintings are full of rich color. He died before his thirtieth birthday in Fillmore in 1914.

Beginning in 1901, Beauregard studied for two years at Brigham Young University.  He continued his study at the University of Utah with Edwin Evans from 1903 to 1906 and became Evans’s assistant in 1905.   Beauregard was a student of Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian where he became familiar with the works of Gaugin and Cezanne.  While Beauregard was at the Julian, he won first prize in technical composition.   Beauregard’s painting reveals his love of rich brilliant color.  In 100 Years of Utah Painting, James Haseltine refers to Beauregard’s work as “muscular art.”  Artist’s Father Clearing Sagebrush is an example of his powerful painting style.

Beauregard became director of art for the Ogden public schools in 1908.  Following his love of archeology, he spent his summers studying with Byron Cummings of the University of Utah in Arizona and New Mexico.  In 1910, Frank Springer, whom Beauregard had met on an archeological trip, commissioned him to paint six 10’ x 12’ murals depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi for the 1915 San Diego Panama-Pacific exposition. While Beauregard was researching and studying the life of St. Francis, he became seriously ill.  He was only able to finish two of the murals. The remaining four murals were completed by another artist, Carlos Vierra.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from the Springville Museum of Art.