Edward McNeil Farmer (1901–1969) was an American artist, designer, and professor. Best known for his watercolors and oil paintings of landscapes and flower studies. He taught at the Graphic Arts Department at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1923 until 1964 and played a role in the development of the Art Department.

Early life and education

Edward McNeil Farmer was born on February 23, 1901, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. In 1919, he attended Stanford University. Farmer graduated in 1923 with his

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree, and in 1926 with his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in

Graphic Arts A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface.

from Stanford. While attending Stanford University, he studied with his aunt, Chloe Lesley Starks. Both his father and mother had graduated from Stanford, as well as all of his siblings. His aunt Chloe Lesley Starks and uncle Everett Parker Lesley graduated from Stanford University and served as professors, his aunt was a professor in the Graphic Arts Department and his uncle was a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Farmer continued his studies at the

Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design or Rudolph Schaeffer School of Rhythmo-Chromatic Design (1924 – 1984) was an art school located in San Francisco, California, best known for its courses in color and interior design. The school was founded by ar ...

in San Francisco. Farmer and his wife Mabel studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

in 1929 and 1930, with

George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...

, Charles Locke, Dimitri Romanovsky, and

Jan Matulka Jan Matulka (7 November 1890 – 25 June 1972) was a Czech-American modern artist originally from Bohemia. Matulka's style ranged from Abstract expressionism to landscapes, sometimes in the same day. He has directly influenced artists like Do ...

Career

Farmer was primarily a painter, but in his early years he was a printmaker working in

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

and

woodcuts Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

, working in watercolors in the 1930s and 1940s, and followed by oil paintings. He taught at Stanford University after graduation in 1923, and until his retirement in 1964. He introduced

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

courses to the school in 1933. Farmer served as the head of the Graphic Arts Department from 1940 until 1956. Farmer participated in the

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

(GGIE) in 1938. He was a member of the Palo Alto Art Club (now known as the

Pacific Art League The Pacific Art League (PAL), formally known as the Palo Alto Art Club was founded in 1921 in Palo Alto, California and is a membership-run nonprofit arts organization, school, and gallery. The group is located in a historic building at 668 Ramon ...

), and active in the

Santa Cruz Art League Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

American Water Color Society The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

, among others. He acted as secretary of the Pacific Arts Association in 1927.

Personal life

He married artist Mabel McKibben Farmer, she had also studied at Stanford University. Together they had three children, Andrew, Mark, and Edward. His first wife Mabel died in 1956, he remarried Arbie Stewart Farmer (née Scott) and remained married until his death. Farmer died after a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on August 20, 1969, in his

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

, home.

References

External links

Mabel McKibbin Farmer Papers
from Elmer L. Andersen Library,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

{{Authority control 1901 births 1969 deaths Stanford University alumni Stanford University faculty Artists from Palo Alto, California Academics from Palo Alto, California American watercolorists Art Students League of New York alumni Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design alumni

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links