Alexander Francis Harmer (1856 – January 10, 1925) was an American painter in Southern California. He has been described as the first prominent painter of California. Works by Harmer are part of several major collections.

Biography

Harmer was born in 1856 in Newark, New Jersey. He began painting early, supposedly selling his first work at the age of 11 for two dollars. At 16 he joined the army, and was stationed to California. After a year he requested a discharge on grounds of being underage, working as a photographic assistant before enrolling at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Sixth Cavalry The 6th Cavalry ("Fighting Sixth'") is a regiment of the United States Army that began as a regiment of cavalry in the American Civil War. It currently is organized into aviation squadrons that are assigned to several different combat aviation ...

at Fort Apache, Arizona. During his time in the army, his unit pursued the Chiricahua Apache and

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, their chief. Harmer took advantage of the army service, traveling in the American West and photographing Native Americans and Western life, before again returning to the Pennsylvania Academy. Harmer moved to California in 1891. There in 1893 he married Felicidad Abadie, of a prominent Santa Barbara

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family. The couple settled in the Abadie family residence, the Yorba-Abadie adobe, which under Alexander and Felicidad's patronage became an artists' colony. Harmer developed sketches and photographs from his army travels into oil paintings. He contributed illustrations to '' Harpers Weekly'' and other magazines, acquiring a reputation as a western artist, and as a leader of the California art community. Alexander and Felicidad had seven children. Their eldest daughter Inez married

Jack Northrop John Knudsen Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and designer who founded the Northrop Corporation in 1939. His career began in 1916 as a draftsman for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Com ...

, founder of the Northrop Corporation. Their eldest son Alexander Bertrand ("Bert") Harmer (1896 – 1967) became a prominent Santa Barbara architect. Indians Migrating SAAM-1985

Harmer died on January 10, 1925. Several permanent museum collections contain Harmer's work, including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Crocker Art Museum.

References

{{authority control 1856 births 1925 deaths 20th-century American painters 19th-century American photographers 19th-century American painters 20th-century male artists American male painters Artists from Newark, New Jersey Artists from Santa Barbara, California

Biography

See also

References