Desert

oil on board, 15" x 20"

Andrew J. Ashurst was born in Arkansas on June 7, 1883. He was resident of Riverside, California in 1910 and Altadena, California by 1940. He died there on August 4, 1960. His rare works include landscapes of the High Sierra.

Palm Springs Desert

oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

Clifford Park Baldwin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 14, 1889. By 1926 he had settled in southern California. While living in Montrose and Carlsbad, he was a pupil of Jean Mannheim, Paul Lauritz, and George Demont Otis. While on the staff of the Southwest Museum from 1933-41, he illustrated the books Gypsum Cave and Navajo Weaving. Baldwin died in Oceanside, California on July 3, 1961. Member: Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles; Carlsbad-Oceanside Art Club. Works held: Southwest Museum (Los Angeles).

Brooding Desert

oil on canvas, 10" x 14"

George Kennedy Brandriff was born in Millville, New Jersey on February 13, 1890. After moving to Orange, California in 1913, he worked as a piano salesman. Shortly after his arrival he enrolled at the University of Southern California College of Dentistry and in 1918 opened a dental office in Hemet, California.

Without the benefit of formal training, he had been painting all his life. He later had a few art lessons from Anna Hills, Carl Oscar Borg, Jack Wilkinson Smith, and in 1928 abandoned dentistry to devote full-time to art.

After building a studio-home in Laguna Beach, Brandriff taught painting (Orrin White was one of his pupils) and served as president of the local art association. His subject matter included beach scenes, marines, mountain landscapes, still lifes, and figures. Many of his paintings were of the sea and fishermen around the Newport Beach area.

Stricken with cancer, his short career ended with his suicide on August 14, 1936 in Laguna Beach.

Member: American Artists Professional League; California Art Club; Laguna Beach Art Ass'n (pres. 1934); Foundation of Western Art. Exhibited: Los Angeles County Fair, 1927; Southby Salon (LA), 1927; Painters of the West (LA), 1928, 1929 (silver medal); Exposition Bldg (Los Angeles), 1928; Kanst Gallery (Los Angeles), 1929; Biltmore Salon (Los Angeles), 1929, 1930, 1933, 1936; California State Fair, 1930 (second prize); Pasadena Art Institute, 1930, 1933, 1934; University of Southern California, 1933; Laguna Museum, 1989 (retrospective). Works held: Orange County (CA) Museum; Phoenix Municipal Collection; USC; Irvine (CA) Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Murals: Mount Vernon Jr. High School (Los Angeles); Jonathan Club (Los Angeles); Inglewood (CA) High School; Polytechnic High School (Venice, CA).

Desert Landscape

oil on board, 20" x 24"

Ada Belle Champlin was born in St Louis, Missouri on December 25, 1875. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students League in New York City, and the Cape Cod School of Art under Hawthorne. After several years in Chicago she moved to southern California in 1910. From San Diego she settled in Pasadena in 1916. She also had a second home in Carmel where she painted and helped found the local art association in 1927. A spinster, Champlin died in Pasadena on December 16, 1950. Member: California Art Club; Laguna Beach Art Ass'n; Carmel Art Ass'n; Pasadena Art Ass'n. Exhibited: San Francisco Art Ass'n, 1916; Pasadena Art Institute, 1928. Works held: Montclair (NJ) Art Museum.

Desert in Bloom

oil on Board, 16" x 20"

Harvey B. Coleman was born in New York on January 27, 1884. He was a self-taught landscape painter who was a resident of Chicago before moving to Los Angeles at the turn of the century. He exhibited there and worked as a photoengraver for local newspapers until the 1930s. He died in Phoenix, Arizona on September 30, 1959. Exhibited: California State Fair, 1930.
 

Colorful Desert

oil on canvas, 16" x 20"

Grace Trimble was born in Denver, Colorado on December 19, 1876. She began painting at age sixteen and remained self-taught. She married Edgar Howell in 1897. Moving to southern California in 1927, she settled in La Mesa in San Diego County. In her leisure she made painting forays into the nearby deserts and along the California coast. Mrs. Howell died in San Diego on November 10, 1966. Exhibited: La Jolla Art Fairs.

Desert in Bloom

watercolor, 6" x 7"

Ida Angell Hylton was born in Utah on February 12, 1898. By 1940 she had moved to southern California. Her rare works include desert landscapes. She died in Los Angeles on May 8, 1964.

Desert Landscape

oil on canvas, 8" x 10"

Richard Kruger (né Alfred Richard Young) was born in Zitteau, Germany in 1880 of American parents. He was trained in Heidelberg to be a physician. Opting instead for an art career, he studied with Richard Tuettner in Germany and with Schrum in Dresden. An adventuresome spirit led him to New York at age 20. Shortly after arriving he headed west on foot and sketched the deserts along the way. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1906, he established a studio and school in the Majestic Building. In 1918 he moved to San Francisco into an atelier on Stockton Street where he not only painted but made expensive chests and metalwares. He was also in demand as an interior decorator and house renovator. His paintings have a romantic, old world quality to them. Often working at sunrise or sunset, his subjects include the desert, marines, coastals, landscapes, the Golden Gate and scenes around the San Francisco Bay area. After spending one year in Germany and France, Kruger returned to California in 1928; his trail is lost after that time. Exhibited: Paris; Munich; Vienna; New York City; Southern California Artists, Chicago, 1909. Works held: Santa Fe Railway (Grand Canyon).

Desert

watercolor, 4" x 5"

Edward Marion Langley was born in London, England on March 27, 1870. He was abandoned by his parents in Australia when quite young. Making his way to Canada, he traveled alone by canoe down to the Gulf of Mexico. In Chicago he worked with William Selig in developing the motion picture camera and became a United States citizen in 1904. Before that he had played trumpet in the Illinois State Guard for many years. Sometime before 1917 he came to Hollywood, California with Selig where they produced the pioneer epic, "The Spoilers." A few years later Langley became art director for the Fairbanks Studio on such films as "Thief of Bagdad," "Three Musketeers," and "Mark of Zorro." From 1921 until 1934 the Langley home in Los Angeles was a gathering place for artists and the film colony. When not busy with the movies, he was active in the local art scene. As a lecturer at local women's clubs, he used his paintings and special lighting effects to show the moods of the desert. Langley was painting in Japan when war erupted and was a prisoner there until 1943. Returning to California, he lived in Salinas, Laguna, and La Jolla where he taught painting classes. He died in Los Angeles on May 11, 1949. Langley is best known for his depictions of the southern California deserts. Exhibited: Ebell Club (Los Angeles), 1920s; Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, 1926; Mission Inn (Riverside), 1927; Bullocks (Los Angeles), 1929 (solo). Works held: Desert Hot Springs (CA) Museum; Nevada Museum (Reno).

High Desert

oil on canvas, 20" x 24"

Eva Rose Griffin was born in Columbia, South America in 1873. By 1889 she was a resident of Pasadena and by 1910 was teaching in San Francisco at the Immaculate Conception Academy. By the 1920s she had married Albert S. Lloyd and had returned Los Angeles where taught at Manual Arts High School until her husband’s death in 1948. She is believed to have returned to South America at that time. Member: Los Angeles Art Ass'n. Exhibited: California State Fair, 1889; Hollywood Public Library, 1931.

Desert in Bloom

oil on board, 12" x 16"

Ailene Bixler McLaughlin was born in Colorado on November 17, 1889. She settled in Los Angeles in 1921. For 29 years she taught at Fairfax High School. She died in Los Angeles on April 4, 1975.

Lower Desert

oil on board, 12" x 16"

Ivan George McMichael was born in Oklahoma on February 24, 1900. By the 1930s he had settled in Long Beach. He was a draftsman and for many years taught in the Artesia school district. He worked in oil, pen-and-ink, and charcoal. He died in Barstow, California on September 19, 1986. Member: Spectrum Club; Long Beach Art Association.

Desert Landscape

oil on board, 18" x 24"

James Arthur Merriam was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada on March 18, 1880. He studied art with Francis Petrus Paulis in Detroit. He worked there as a commercial artist before settling in Los Angeles in 1920. After establishing a studio, he made painting forays into the desert near Palm Springs, the redwoods, the high Sierra, Monterey, Yosemite, and Arizona. Merriam died in Los Angeles on September 8, 1951. He was the father of artist Eleanor Merriam Lukits.

Road to Palm Springs

oil on board, 18" x 24"

James Arthur Merriam was born in Chatham, Ontario, Canada on March 18, 1880. He studied art with Francis Petrus Paulis in Detroit. He worked there as a commercial artist before settling in Los Angeles in 1920. After establishing a studio, he made painting forays into the desert near Palm Springs, the redwoods, the high Sierra, Monterey, Yosemite, and Arizona. Merriam died in Los Angeles on September 8, 1951. He was the father of artist Eleanor Merriam Lukits.

Desert Landscape

oil on board, 10" x 12"

Biography unavailable

Desert Landscape

oil on board, 18" x 24"

Frederick Doyle Penney was born in Fullerton, Nebraska on January 10, 1900. After the University of Nebraska, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League in New York City. Settling in Los Angeles in 1924, he continued at Chouinard Art School under Hinkle, Chamberlin, and Pruett Carter. During the 1930s he was active in the Los Angeles art scene while operating a design center. At the onset of World War Two he moved to Chicago to work in his father's factory and continued to paint in that area until his return to California in 1957. His last 30 years were spent in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs. He died there on February 2, 1988. Penney specialized in desert landscapes in oil and watercolor. A Chicago art critic said of his work, "He slides the seasons of the year through his palette like strands of colored silk." Member: Desert Art Center (Palm Springs); Laguna Beach Art Ass'n; California Watercolor Society; Shadow Mountain Palette Club. Exhibited: California Art Club, 1930-33; California Watercolor Society, 1930-35; California Statewide (Santa Cruz), 1931; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; Society for Sanity in Art, 1940, 1942.

Desert

watercolor, 7" x 11"

William E. Reiffel was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 10, 1864. “Willy” was the brother of artist Charles Reiffel and a long-time resident of Los Angeles. He died there on February 14, 1945. His rare paintings include desert landscapes.

Desert Landscape

oil on board, 16" x 19"

Henry Leopold Richter was born in Plumenau, Austria on October 22, 1870. He immigrated to the United States in 1887 and settled in Chicago. He began painting without the aid of instruction and, upon securing employment with a commercial art company, enrolled at the Art Institute and studied privately with E. A. Burbank. After establishing a studio there, he began exhibiting at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1904. His work was favorably received by the local press and in 1911 he was asked to teach in Gunnison, Colorado at Western State Teachers College. During his eight years at that school, he took a leave of absence for further study at the Royal Academy of Munich with Professor Knirr. Richter taught at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa in 1919 and the following year moved to Long Beach, California. He later established a studio in Laguna Beach where he gave lessons and became active in the local art scene. Upon retirement in 1939, he made his final move to Rolling Hills, California where he continued painting until his death on March 11, 1960. His oeuvre includes European scenes, California landscapes, and desert scenes in oil and watercolor. Exhibited: Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, 1924-26; Los Angeles County Fair, 1925; California Art Club, 1925; California Watercolor Society, 1925-43; Palos Verdes Art Ass'n; Long Beach Art Ass'n; California State Fairs (awards); Pacific Southwest Exposition (Long Beach), 1928 (silver medal); Linder Gallery (Long Beach), 1931, 1938; Spectrum Club (Long Beach), 1932; International Aeronautical Show (Los Angeles), 1937 (bronze medal); Webb Gallery (Los Angeles), 1938; Laguna Beach Art Ass'n, 1939; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; San Pedro Art Ass'n, 1953. Works held: First Methodist Church (Long Beach); Religious Science Church (Redondo Beach); Children's Museum (Colorado Springs); Western State College (Gunnison, CO).

Desert in Bloom

oil on board, 13" x 19"

Rose Pitcher Shears was born in South Dakota on January 30, 1885. While a resident of Los Angeles in the 1920s, she made painting forays into the desert near Palm Springs. She died in Orange, CA on July 8, 1955.

Desert in Bloom

oil on canvas, 20" x 24"

Herbert Morton Stoops was born in Idaho (his obit gives Utah) in 1888. Stoops was raised on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains. After graduation from Utah State College, he was active in Idaho and Utah at the turn of the century. In 1908 he moved to Oakland and for five years studied at the San Francisco Institute of Art while working as a feature artist for the San Francisco Call and Examiner. The year 1916 was spent in Chicago where he worked for the Tribune while attending the Art Institute. During World War One he served as an army artillery officer in France. His drawings of the war brought him his first national attention. Following the war he established a studio in New York City and a home in Mystic, Connecticut where he remained until his death on May 19, 1948. "Jeremy Cannon" and "Raymond Sisley" were his pseudonyms His illustrations often appeared on covers of leading magazines. Member: Salmagundi Club; Society of Illustrators; American Artists Professional League; Artists' Guild of New York. Exhibitions: National Academy of Design, 1940 (Isador Medal). Works held: Pennsylvania Historical Society; Virginia War Museum.

Desert Sand Verbenas

oil on board, 10" x 12"

Lucien C. Vannerson was born in Ochiltree, Texas on April 16, 1904. He spent four years at Texas Technological College in Lubbock and then enrolled at Carver Chiropractic College in Oklahoma City. By 1940 he had moved to southern California and settled near the Mexican border in El Centro. A self-taught artist, he often painted with Paul Grimm whose influence is seen in his desert landscapes. In the 1950s he moved to Mesa, Arizona where he remained until his death in November 1982. Exhibited: Arizona State Fair, 1956. Works held: Sangre de Cristo Arts Center Museum.

Palm Springs Desert

oil on canvas, 24" x 30"

Lynn Clark Winans was born in Michigan on April 30, 1897. While a resident of San Diego, he made painting trips to the desert near Palm Springs. He died in San Diego on July 7, 1982.