Photo by Susan Zukowsky 1970  

Frank Rampolla (1931-1971)

Frank Rampolla was born in New York City to Italian parents during the early years of the Great Depression and came of age in a world shaped by war. He received his early artistic training in New York, studying at the Art Students League from 1949 to 1950 and at Cooper Union from 1950 to 1954.

In 1956, he held his first one man exhibition at the Fleischman Gallery. The following year, he married, exhibited work in Art U.S.A. at Madison Square Garden, and entered Boston University. In 1959, Rampolla was awarded the Grand Prize from the Friends of Art at Boston University and graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in 1960.

After relocating to Sarasota, he taught painting, drawing, color, and design at the Ringling Museum of Art from 1960 to 1968. He later joined the art faculty at the University of South Florida. His discipline, intensity, commitment to his students and the act of seeing left a lasting impression to all who knew him. Rampolla died in Tampa at the age of forty.

Though his career was brief, his work remains relevant for its emotional intensity, psychological depth, and expressive visual language. Rooted in the human figure yet never limited to description, his paintings continue to resonate through their force of feeling, their formal rigor, and their enduring engagement with the inner life.

Frank Rampolla CV and Collection Summary

Education

  • Art Students League of New York – certificate studies, 1949–1950.

  • Cooper Union, New York – certificate program, 1950–1954.

  • Boston University – Bachelor of Fine Arts, magna cum laude, 1957–1960.

Teaching Experience

  • Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, Florida –Professor of Art teaching painting, drawing, color and design, 1960–1968.

  • University of South Florida, Tampa – Professor of Art, 1968–1971.

Solo Exhibitions

  • 1957 – Fleischman Gallery, New York City.

  • 1960 – Center Gallery, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1962 – Sarasota Art Association, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1963–1965 – Gladstone Gallery, Woodstock, New York.

  • 1964–1965–1969 – St. Armands Gallery, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1965 – Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida – The Seven Deadly Sins (first living artist to mount a solo exhibition at the museum).

  • 1965 – Theatre Gallery, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

  • 1966–1968 – Sindler Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida.

  • 1966 – Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina.

  • 1968 – New College (Hamilton Hall), Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1968 – Fourth Bucknell Annual Drawings Exhibition, Bucknell University, Pennsylvania.

  • 1970 – Cellar Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.

  • 1970 – Editions Ltd. Art Gallery, Indiana.

  • 1971 – Memorial Show, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

  • 1971 – Memorial Show, Jacksonville Museum, Jacksonville, Florida.

  • 1971 – Up Here Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.

  • 1973 – St. Armands Gallery, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1973 – Image Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.

  • 1974 – Stetson University, DeLand, Florida.

  • 1975 – Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida.

  • 1977 – Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1980 – Miami Dade Community College.

  • 1981 – Tampa Originals, Tampa, Florida.

  • 1983 – Arts Center, Saint Petersburg, Florida (posthumous exhibition curated by Eric Lang Peterson).

  • 1985 – University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida.

  • 1985 – Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Florida.

  • 1986 – Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida.

  • 2013 – Leepa‑Rattner Museum of Art, Tarpon Springs, Florida – Remembering Frank Rampolla.

  • 2014 – Selby Gallery, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida – The Return of Frank Rampolla.

  • 2016 – Museum of Art DeLand, DeLand, Florida – Frank Rampolla: The Figure.

  • 2025 – Leepa‑Rattner Museum of Art, Tarpon Springs, Florida – Reflections: The Legacy of Frank Rampolla.

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 1957 – Art U.S.A., New York City.

  • 1959 – Fine Boston Printers, Boston, Massachusetts.

  • 1961 – Sixteen Florida Painters, Nixon Art Foundation Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana.

  • 1962/1964/1966 – Sarasota Art Association shows, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1963 – Mead “Painting of the Year,” Atlanta, Georgia.

  • 1963 – One Hundred Prints of the Year, American Artists Alliance, New York City.

  • 1964 – Manatee Art League, Bradenton, Florida.

  • 1965 – Florida Pavilion, New York World’s Fair.

  • 1965 – “Art Across America,” MKneedler, N.L.C., Tampa, Florida.

  • 1965 – Two Sarasota Painters, University of Tampa, Florida.

  • 1965 – Sarasota Art Traveling Exhibition – High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA); Museum of Art, Springfield, MO; Hallmark Gallery, Kansas City, MO; Purdue University Gallery, Purdue, IN; Butler Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN.

  • 1965 – University of South Florida Gallery, Tampa, Florida – exhibition schedule included Rampolla alongside Carol Summers and Syd Solomon.

  • 1968 – Florida 17 – touring exhibition to Washington D.C. and Tampa.

  • 1968 – South Eastern Annual Exhibition of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.

  • 1969 – Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.

  • 1969 – Boston University Alumni Show.

  • 1970 – USF Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition.

  • 1970 – Graphicstudio Program, University of South Florida – program schedule included works by Rampolla alongside Joan Miró, Mel Ramos, Nicholas Krushenick and Richard Anuszkiewicz.

  • 1971–1972 – “Florida Creates,” touring exhibition sponsored by Florida Gas Co. and the Florida Museum Directors Association.

  • 1974 – “Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art,” Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1974 – St. Armands Gallery, Sarasota, Florida.

  • 1975 – Hillsborough County Museum, Tampa, Florida.

  • 1978 – Brooklyn Museum / USF Graphics Studio.

  • 1978 – “Museum Choice,” Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Florida.

  • 1989 – Group Exhibition, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

  • 1990 – National Gallery of Art Graphic Studio, Washington, D.C.

  • 2017 – “Frank Rampolla: The DNA of the Mark,” Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville – exhibition of Rampolla’s Murder in the Cathedral etchings from MOCA’s permanent collection displayed alongside selected large paintings

Works in Collections

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. – holds eight etchings and aquatints from the Murder in the Cathedral portfolio: Murder VI, Dies Irae VII, Interlude V, Te Deum VIII, Enter Becket II, Title Page, Birth and Death IV and Thomas and the Four Tempters III (gift of Mr. and Mrs. Murray Lebwohl).

  • Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Florida – holds eight etchings and aquatints from the Murder in the Cathedral portfolio: Murder VI, Dies Irae VII, Interlude V, Te Deum VIII, Enter Becket II, Title Page, Birth and Death IV and Thomas and the Four Tempters III (gift of Judy and Ira Dushoff, M.D.).

  • University of North Florida Campus Art Collection – holds the intaglio print The Couple, 2/15 (accession AG.2017.25, acquired 2017).

  • Michael C. Carlos Museum (Emory University), Atlanta, GA – holds the drypoint The Couple (gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Braun).

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. – holds the 1970 lithograph Standing Man.

Public & Institutional Collections

  • Lee Nordese Gallery (New York City)

  • Tampa Public Library (Tampa, FL)

  • Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota, FL)

  • Leepa‑Rattner Museum of Art (Tarpon Springs, FL)

  • Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg (FL)

  • Museum of Art DeLand (DeLand, FL)

  • Philadelphia Museum (PA)

  • Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.)

  • New College (Sarasota, FL)

  • Mint Museum (NC)

  • Mead Paper Company (Atlanta, GA)

  • University of South Florida (Tampa, FL)

  • Stetson University (DeLand, FL)

  • University of Tampa (Tampa, FL)

  • National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

  • Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C.)

  • Miami University (Oxford, OH)

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.)

  • Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (FL)

  • University of North Florida Campus Art Collection (Jacksonville, FL)

  • Michael C. Carlos Museum (Emory University, Atlanta, GA)

Awards & Grants

  • Friends of Art Grand Prize, Boston University, 1957.

  • Sarasota Art Association First Prize, 1961.

  • Ringling Museum Second Coast Show, First Prize, 1962.

  • El Paso Museum of Art First Prize, 1963.

  • Bradenton Art Association Drawing Show, First Prize, 1964.

  • “Painting of the Year,” Mead Paper Company, 1961.

  • Florida State Fund, First Prize (year unspecified).

  • Grant from the Secretary of State for the Frank Rampolla Traveling Show, 1982.