Carl Sammons was born in Kearney, Nebraska. After his family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, Carl worked as a sign painter, and is reported to have had a German art teacher whose name is unknown to us today. He moved to Oakland, California in 1919 at the age of 34. He studied at the California School of Fine Arts. He was a plein air painter of a variety of California landscapes, from the deserts around Palm Springs in the South, to the Russian River and Mt. Diablo areas in the North, and the whole of the coast from Santa Barbara northward to the Oregon border. He also made painting expeditions to Arizona, Oregon, Wyoming, and Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.

Among his friends were notable artists of the time, Edward Borein (1873-1945), Deidrich Gremke (1860-1939), Paul Grimm (1892-1974), Lorenzo Latimer (1857-1941), William Otte (1871-1957), DeWitt Parshall (1864-1956) and Thaddeus Welch (1844-1919).

His wife, Queen Ester Stewart of Petrolia, California, traveled with her husband on their painting excursions. They kept a summer house in Petrolia in the 1940's and 50's, an area Carl loved to paint.

Critics praise Sammon's work, and his work is shown in prestigious places, such as the Smithsonian and San Francisco's DeYoung Museum. Nowadays his works are auctioned by Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams & Butterfields. But Carl did not enjoy promoting his work, limiting his formal art association affiliations to the Santa Barbara Art League.

Source: AskArt.com; "Carl Sammons (1883-1968), Early California Impressionist" by Douglas S. McElwain, February 27, 2005); Artists in California 1786 - 1940, Edan Milton Hughes, 3d ed.