Each thumbnail below is linked to a page with larger photos.
William Weaver Armstrong was born during the Civil War in Ontario, New York. He moved west to the Bay Area with his parents in 1876, and the family settled in Oakland. William's father was an accomplished artist, and was Williams only teacher. William loved the wilds of Northern California, and painted scenes from Santa Cruz north to the Oregon border. To the disapproval of his parents, he married an Indian girl named Grace. To make ends meet, he was partner in a carriage painting firm on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. He contracted tuberculosis, and died at the young age of 44. His work resides in the governor's mansion in Carson City, Nevada and in the Oakland Museum. Return to Top of Page |
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Harry Cassie Best and his brother Arthur Best came to California after having been itinerate musicians in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. After their move to California, Arthur remained in San Francisco where he pursued his artistic career, establishing the Best Art School. Harry loved the Sierra, and settled in Yosemite Valley. He later met a young photographer and pianist in Yosemite who asked to play his parlor piano. Harry readily gave his permission, and in a short time, the young photographer became his son-in-law, Ansel Adams. After Harry died, his gallery in Yosemite became the Ansel Adams Gallery. Return to Top of Page |
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 California Oaks and Pasture Path |
 Yosemite Valley, 1915 |
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 Half Dome, Yosemite |
 Mt. Shasta |
 Mt. Shasta |
Alphonso Herman Broad 1851 - 1930 In 1887, Alphonso Broad came to Berkeley at age 36. He began his working life as a carpenter, but quickly advanced to becoming a contractor and designer. Five of the buildings designed by Alphonso Broad were City of Berkeley Landmarks, including the original Whittier, LeConte and Columbus Schools. |
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 Forest Stream |
 Grazing below Mount Tamalpais |
Gordon Coutts traveled far more than most people of his time and led a most interesting life. He was born in Scotland, studied art in Paris at the Julian Academy, lived in Melbourne, Australia, came to California and became a member of the Bohemian Club, visited Morocco, and finally established himself in Palm Springs. Return to Top of Page |
 Upper Tuolumne Sundown |
 San Jacinto Morning |
 Shepherd and sheep grazing |
 Beach Rodeo Cove |
 "Yosemite Valley near Old Village" 1937 |
Alice Hunt Curtis 1858 - 1957 |
Alice Hunt Curtis lived to be 99, and was an active artist in Northern California. Among her exhibitions are the Golden Gate Park Museum in 1915, the Oakland Art Gallery in 1917, and the De Young Museum in 1928. She was a member of the Society for Sanity in Art. Return to Top of Page |
| Carl Dahlgren 1841 - 1920 | ||
 Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite |
Carl Dahlgren and his brother Marius came to America in 1872 from their native Denmark. Both brothers were exceptional painters, and after a brief stay in Salt Lake City, they came to the San Francisco Bay Area. Carl was known to include shafts of sunlight in many of his works and was known as "the sunshine painter." Today, both Carl and Marius have paintings in the permanent collection of the Oakland Museum. Return to Top of Page |
 California Vista |
 Forest Stream |
 Sheep on hillside |
 Forest Path |
| Sidney Tilden Daken 1876-1935 | |
 Sunrise Sonoma County |
Samuel Tilden Daken, also known as Sidney Tilden Daken. A prolific landscape painter, he painted in the redwoods, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Marin and Sonoma counties. |
By 1932 he was living in Los Angeles. For artists during the Depression survival was difficult. Daken spent his last years in the mountains near Georgetown, CA mining for gold. Return to Top of Page |
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| Richard DeTreville 1864 - 1929 | ||
He was born in the in North Carolina in the midst of the Civil War. As a young man, he came to Stockton, California and began a publication called "Det's Magazine." In 1910, at the age of 46, he came to San Francisco and worked as a cartoonist for the Park Presidio News. As an accomplished and prolific self taught artist, he painted the natural beauty of California, long before freeways. Return to Top of Page |
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 Mount Tamalpais |
 Crater Lake |
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 Seacoast |
 Crater Lake |
 Flying Mallard |
| Horace Wolfe Duesbury 1851 - 1904 | |
 Sierra Nevada lake with sailboat |
In 1876, Horace Wolfe Duesbury arrived in California. The twenty-five year old left his native Sheffield, England to paint the natural beauty of California. He kept his studio on Market Street in San Francisco, and made his living doing landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. He lived in Portland between 1879 and 1886. His works have been exhibited by the California Historical Society and the De Young Museum. Return to Top of Page |
Bertha Luce Emery was born near Chico on February 11, 1873. At age four she moved to Ukiah with her parents. She ran a millinery business in Ukiah while painting in her leisure. A pupil of Grace Hudson and Lorenzo P. Latimer, she painted oils and watercolors of the flowering fields and mountains of Mendocino County. She died in Ukiah on October 29, 1957. Her paintings are held by the Society of California Pioneers and she participated in or was honored by several exhibitions, such as SFAA April 1906, Saturday Afternoon Club (Ukiah) 1930 (solo), CSL 1936 (solo), GGIE 1939 (gold medal), Mendocino County Historical Society 1987 (retrospective).
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| Henrietta Riddell Fish 1856 - 1925 | |
 Marsh at sunset |
Henrietta's family came to California during the Gold Rush and settled in the new state's capital, which at the time was in Benicia. She was educated at Benicia's Young Ladies Seminary, and had a hobby of keeping exotic pets, including snakes, alligators, and peacocks. She studied at the San Francisco School of Design and painted landscapes and portraits the rest of her life. Her work was also exhibited at the Women's Building at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. Return to Top of Page |
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A grandson and son of artists, Hugo Anton Fisher continued the family line by having two artist sons of his own, Hugo Melville Fisher and Harrison Fisher. Hugo Anton was keenly skilled at watercolors. He was born in Czechoslovakia and came to the US at age 20 in 1874. He and his wife moved to Alameda, CA in 1886 and he would ferry across the bay to his San Fancisco studio, sketching along the way. He painted scenes of marshes and local landscapes, often featuring dairy cattle. He was liked by the critics on both coasts. Like William Keith and other Bay Area artists of the time, Hugo Anton Fisher lost many paintings in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Return to Top of Page |
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 Grazing cattle in expansive landscape |
 Woman Fishing at Pasture Pond |
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 "Marin Pastoral" |
 Rocky River Landscape |
 Landscape Waterfall |
 Sheep in Spring Meadow |
 Marsh landscape |
 Cows in marsh |
 Niagera Falls |
 Bayshore with boat (Sold) |
 Vintage Print 1893 "Homeward Bound" |
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Charles S. Graham 1852 - 1911 |
Well known Harper's Weekly artist Charles Graham traveled extensively through the west. He lived in California while doing freelance work for major newspapers in the East. He was member of the Bohemian Club. Return to Top of Page |
 Mt. Shasta |
 Mt. Hood |
 Seacoast |
 Photo of Grace Griffith, circa 1905 |
Grace Myrtle Allison Griffith 1885 - 1955 A native Californian, Grace was the daughter of a successful fruit farmer who is credited with bringing the Gravenstein Apple to Sebastopol. She studied art in San Francisco with Lorenzo P. Latimer, and later had a gallery in Honolulu with her sister Alice. She met with critical success in London and was a member of the Royal Watercolor Society. Many of her works depict the pastoral tranquility of Sonoma and Marin Counties. She worked mostly with watercolor, but did produce some works in oil. |
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 Pasture Path |
 California Oak and Sheep |
 Oak and Stream |
 Mossy Oak and Spring |
 Pasture and Eucalyptus |
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Nels Hagerup created stunning scenes of the Pacific and San Francisco Bay. He is descended from an artistic Norwegian family which included the famed composer, Edvard Hagerup Grieg. He studied art in Berlin and Copenhagen before joining the merchant marine and making his way to Portland, Oregon in 1882. He remained in Portland, teaching art and helping found the Portland Art Association. Nels met and married another Norwegian immigrant and artist, Harriet Marie Hageman Hagerup (1851 - 1918). They had a home less than a block south of Golden Gate Park and three blocks from the Pacific. Often, Nels would walk down to the beach and paint. Nels supplemented his art income by working as a stevedore on the docks of San Francisco. Return to Top of Page |
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 Across the Golden Gate |
 Docked by the Golden Gate |
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 Seaside cliff - SOLD |
 Sunset Beach, San Francisco |
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 "Raccoon Straits" |
 Dune grasses |
 Blazing sunset - SOLD |
 Beached Schooner |
 Breakers at sunset |
 Surf Crashing |
 Mt. Jefferson |
T. Haris 19th century |
T. Haris is a 19th century listed artist indicated as having been active in Yosemite circa 1895. He is noted for paintings of Yosemite, mountains, and landscapes. |
| Ransome Gillet Holdredge 1836 - 1899 | ||
 Cabin in the Redwoods |
In his day, Ransom Holdredge was considered by some to be a better painter than his contemporary, William Keith. Ransome was born in New York City in 1836. Like many of the 49ers during the Gold Rush, he came to San Francisco in the 1850's via the Panama Canal, and became a draftsman at the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo. In 1874, the 38 year old traveled to Paris and was intrigued by the Barbizon School. When he returned to America, he became a field artist for Schribner's which allowed him to travel the west. He accompanied Major Reno during Custer's last stand in 1876. Back in San Francisco, he was a cofounder of the San Francisco Art Association and a member of the Bohemian Club. His works are in the Bohemian Club collection, the Oakland Museum, the Orange County Museum, the Crocker Museum, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley and the California Historical Society. Return to Top of Page |
 Birch Trees at Sunset |
Carl Henrik Jonnevold 1856-1955 Carl Jonnevold was born in Norway and came to California in the 1870's. He painted first in the Northwest, but then settled in San Francisco. He established a studio which he maintained for many years. In the very early years of the twentieth century, he traveled in Europe, living for brief periods in Munich and Paris where he was greatly influenced by 19th century French landscape painters.
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 Indian Rider, Yosemite Valley |
 Moonrise over the River Thames |
 A verdant landscape |
| William Keith 1838 - 1911 | |
William Keith's painting career was new when California was new. He arrived before the transcontinental railroad, and lived through the great '06 quake in San Francisco. Among Keith's freinds were naturalist and writer John Muir, industrialist E. H. Harriman, and fellow artists Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Hill. Return to Top of Page
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| Frederick Stymetz Lamb 1863 - 1928 | |
 View from the Berkeley Hills |
Frederick Stymetz Lamb left New York and came to California for health reasons when he was fifty-nine years old. He studied at the Art Student's League in New York and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was known for his murals and stained glass designs. He made Berkeley his home and kept a summer home on the Mendocino Coast in Fort Bragg. Return to Top of Page |
Lorenzo Palmer Latimer Born in Placerville and raised in Sonoma County, Lorenzo Latimer came to San Francisco to study art. He became friends with Jules Tavernier who greatly influenced his art. Later, he became a teacher, and among his students were Grace Allison Griffith and Bertha Luce Emery.
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 Redwoods |
| Gustave Liljestrom 1880 - 1958 | |
 Mountain Lake |
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Gustave moved to the United States at age 22 in 1902. He and his brother first worked as copper miners in Arizona. Gustave was inspired by the Southwest to become a painter. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago, and then spent some time in China studying Chinese painting, sculpture and architecture. In 1909, Liljestrom worked as a designer and Oriental expert for Gump's in San Francisco. In the 1930's, he began a series of exhibitions which included Edgar Payne, Armin Hansen, William Ritschel, Arthur Hill Gilbert, William Wendt and himself. He was member of the Bohemian Club and the Society for Sanity in Art. Return to Top of Page |
 Grapes |
Nellie Moody lived in Sonoma, California in the late 19th century. This exceptional still life is dated 1877. This is all that is known of her at present. |
 Wave Breaking on Rocks |
Kate Newhall was a sketching partner of William Keith, and is known for landscapes and coastal scenes, many of San Francisco Bay. She didn't arrive in California until later in her life. In 1897 at the age of 57, she arrived with her brother, Charles Newhall, a roving missionary. After a brief stay in Redlands, she moved to Berkeley and became a student of William Keith. She was able to support herself with her art, focusing on California scenes from Santa Barbara, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, and of course San Francisco Bay. Return to Top of Page |
Carducius Plantagenet Ream became Chicago’s most famous still life painter, and is known best for his paintings of fruit. Peaches were his favorite, and the sliver platter appears in other paintings. In his early painting career, Carducius exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art in London, and studied in London, Paris, and Munich. After returning to America, he studied in New York. He was the first artist to be included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. He was a prosperous artist, and exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association from 1872 -1879, the Royal Academy of London in 1892 and 1898 and at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1894 - 1909. Return to Top of Page |
 Peaches on Silver, circa 1909 |
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William Ritschel studied art at the Royal Academy in Munich before emigrating to New York City in 1895. Much of his young life was spent at sea, and it is not surprising that as an artist his focus was on capturing the sea with its many personalities. Ritschel settled in Carmel in 1911, becoming one of the first artists to establish residence there subsequent to the devastating earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, and that is where he died in 1949. On the rocky cliffs of Carmel Heights he built a home called "Castellammare", named for an Italian seaport town south of Naples. Return to Top of Page
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Benigino Yamero Ruiz 1880 - 1929 Benigino came to California from Peru as a teenager in the 1890's. He was strongly influenced by the Barbizon school, and painted many scenes of the Bay Area in much the same style as William Keith. Like Keith, Ruiz would utilize the tops of wooden cigar boxes for small paintings. Return to Top of Page |
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| Marius Schmidt 1868 - 1938 | ||
Marius Schmidt was born in Kolding, Denmark in 1868 and showed artistic talents early on. His father disapproved of his son's interest in art, and sent him in 1880 at age 12 to live with his uncle in the United Staes. Fortunately, his American uncle appreciated young Marius' talents, encouraged him, and later sent him back to Denmark to study with notable Danish artists. When he returned to America, he settled in California. He lived in Oakland from 1909 to 1917, and painting coastal scenes, landscapes, California Missions and gardens. He exhibited with the San Francisco Art Association. Return to Top of Page |
 Coastal View |
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 Cows and Calf |
Meyer Straus emigrated to America from Bavaria. He worked as a theater set designer and painter in St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco. Throughout, he dedicated himself to easel painting. In San Francisco, he maintained a Montgomery Street studio, and made sketching trips throughout Oregon and Northern California. He was a member of the Bohemian Club and the San Francisco Art Association. His works reside in the California Historical Society, the Nevada Museum, and the Oakland Museum. |
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 "Barnyard Friends" |
 Log Cabin, California |
 Cows in forest stream |
James Everett Stuart 1852 - 1941 James Everett Stuart came to San Francisco when he was eight. He studied painting with Thomas Hill and William Keith, and was an adherent of the Barbizon school in his early painting days. He painted extensively throughout the American West, holding a special fascination for Yellowstone and Alaska. He maintained a studio near Union Square, was a member of the Bohemian Club, and has a painting in the White House collection. Return to Top of Page
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 Roadway between Oak & Bay Trees, Marin County (1916) |
 "Sunset Glow" Mt. Shasta (1921) |
 "Exposed Reef " Sitka Sound 1891 |
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Manuel Valencia was born six years after California had become a state. His family were aristocrats in the previous Mexican era of California's history. His grandfather came to Alta California and was administrator of the Presidio in San Francisco. Manuel was a commercial artist and art editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and his position was paid for by art patron, M. H. de Young. He maintained studios in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Monterey, where he focused on tonalist style works including nocturnes. He exhibited at fine galleries in San Francisco and New York, including Delmonico's Restaurant. President William McKinley purchased a Valencia painting of Yosemite. Return to Top of Page
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 Redwood Forest |
 Lupines on the Northern Coast |
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 After Rain |
 Haywagon |
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| Napoleon Primo Vallejo 1850 - 1923 | |
 Pacific Wave |
A year after the 49er Gold Rush, Napoleon Primo Vallejo was born the year California became a state. In his lifetime, he saw major changes in California. In his teens, he saw the effects of the transcontinental railroad, and at age 56, he saw the great 1906 San Francisco quake. His father was General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and his mother was Benicia. Although an accomplished painter, Napoleon spent much time and effort recording his family's history, some of which was published in the San Francisco Chronicle in the early 1920's. Return to Top of Page |
| Jan G. Vanderlinden 1885 - 1946 | |
Dutch born Jan Vanderlinden was an artist in the Bay Area in the 1930's. He then moved to Los Angeles where he died in 1946. Return to Top of Page |
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 Redwoods on Hillside |
George Arnold Weeden 1869 - 1939 |
George Arnold Weeden was born in Provedence, Rhode Island in 1869. At age 37, he arrived in San Francisco in 1906. He resided in the city the rest of his life, dying in San Francisco in 1939. Return to Top of Page |
 Mt. Tamalpais |
Jack Wisby 1869 - 1940 |
Twenty-Three year old Jack Wisby and his fiancee Mary Anne Fossey arrived in San Francisco from their native London in 1869. Without formal art training, he made many sketch trips around Northern California. After the 1906 earthquake, he moved to Inverness near Point Reyes, and in 1912, settled in Bolinas. He is known for many scenes of Marin County. He exhibited with the Berkeley Art Association, the Torrence Gallery in San Anselmo, and his works reside in the Oakland Museum and the San Mateo County Historical Museum. Return to Top of Page |