Edward M. Condra III

Background of an Artist

Ed Condra was born in Hawaii into a military family and thus began an odyssey of travel that continues today. He sold his first painting to the owners of the Hotel Del Coronado at 13 and has been selling and winning awards for his art work ever since.

He studied at the University of New Mexico, the Art Center College of Design and graduated from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art where he won the William H. Ely Travel Award for Illustration. He also has a Master of Science degree from Boston University. After graduation he received a commission in the United States Marine Corps. Following 28 years in the Marines, Colonel Condra became the Director of the MacArthur Memorial Museum in Norfolk, Virginia. During his years in the military he continued to produce a large body of commercial and fine art, to include over 125 works in the official Marine Corps Art Collection.

His work has been shown in more than 20 solo exhibitions and nearly 200 group exhibitions. In 2001 he traveled to the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest on a Heritage Foundation grant to record military activities. More recently he was Artist-in-Residence, Everglades National Park where his work from that experience was seen by some 25,000 visitors at the Park Visitor’s Center. In 2005, Condra was selected as a visiting artist at Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival in Disney World. Recent trips have taken him to Italy and the Southwest.

He is affiliated with many art organizations and has been an active participant in the development of the new National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. His subject matter is highly diverse and relies on solid drawing, strong composition and vibrant color. “My primary objective always is to try and make good narrative pictures for others to view; more simply, just one artist’s impression of life’s passing scene.”


The artist and his wife Judy live in Smithfield, Virginia.

Please feel free to contact the artist for prints or personalized commissions.

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Links of Associated Work

Artist In Residents In Everglades - Ed's Works

National Museum of the Marina Corps, Quantico

The Arts as Lifestyle - Navajo Code Talker

Combat art from "In the Line of Duty" - Pictures featured 11-19