Biddle's Portrait of Frank Loper on view now

George Biddle, featured recently on NPR, was a highly regarded and influential painter and muralist, who helped develop the 'American scene' in the 1930s and 40s. Currently on view at the FAC is Portrait of Frank Loper, a gift of the Friends of the Fine Arts Center in 1937. Loper was a slave for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. After the Civil War, he was released from slavery. He moved to Colorado Springs at the request of Jefferson Hayes Davis, grandson of Jefferson Davis and VP of First National Bank. For 20 years, Loper was a renowned doorman for the Antlers Hotel and in his later years was the doorman for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.