Edwin Deakin (May 21, 1838 – May 11, 1923) was a British-American artist best known for his romantic landscapes as well as his architectural studies, especially the Spanish colonial missions of

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 ...

. His still lifes are considered to be some of the finest of the genre. Deakin is one of the artists who popularized scenes of San Francisco's Chinatown. His sensitive and highly publicized depictions of the deteriorating missions drew public attention to the necessity of restoring these historically important monuments.

Life

Edwin Deakin, Grapes Against White Wall, 1883, NGA 134165

Deakin was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England, on May 21, 1838. An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website (). He was apprenticed at the age of 12 to a business which painted landscapes and floral designs on furniture in the "Japanese style," but he received no formal training. By 18, he was a notable landscape artist. He emigrated to the US in 1856 with his family to the city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where his father opened a hardware store and Edwin's occupation was listed in the Census as a "case maker." On June 21, 1865 Edwin Deakin married the 21-year-old Isabel Fox, also an emigrant from England. The following year saw the birth of their son Oscar Edwin Deakin, who became a talented painter, but died at the age of 30. The Deakins also had a daughter, Edna, who became an architect.

San Francisco

Just prior to 1870 Edwin, along with his entire extended family, moved to San Francisco, California. He quickly established a successful career as a painter of the untamed California wilderness. Although he consigned his paintings to private commercial galleries and was a director and frequent exhibitor at the San Francisco Art Association (SFAA), he sold most of his canvases through public auctions. He became an exhibiting member of the Graphic Club and

Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of journal ...

. In 1874 he exhibited a Lake Tahoe scene at the Chicago Academy of Arts. Three years later he left on a grand tour of Europe, where he painted primarily in England, France and Switzerland, and exhibited at the Paris Salon. He returned in May 1879 to San Francisco. The first showings of his new European paintings in San Francisco garnered much attention. He exhibited dozens of paintings to positive reviews at the California State Fair between 1879 and 1889. He traveled extensively through the Midwest and had prolonged stays in both Denver (1882–83) and Salt Lake City (1883). Deakin's highly publicized disputes with the "rebels" of the San Francisco art colony caused him to withdraw in 1885 as an exhibiting member of the SFAA. At this time his still lifes of pendulous grapes became extremely popular and were much imitated. During one of his several trips to New York City he published a series of articles which called for the standardization of canvas sizes, a common practice in Europe that allowed for the mass production of cheaper frames. BBHPhoto Edwin Deakin Photo

Berkeley

In 1891, Deakin moved with his wife and two daughters to the university town of Berkeley, just across the bay from San Francisco, where he built a large residence and studio-gallery. He soon began a tradition of holding an annual studio exhibit open to the public. Deakin still maintained a small sales office in San Francisco and continued to contribute his paintings to that city's auctions and private galleries. His one-man show in April 1900 at the Palace Hotel featured all of his 21 California Spanish mission paintings, many in elaborate iconographic frames designed by the artist himself. His campaign to save the missions was the subject of a highly laudatory article in the Washington, D.C. ''Herald''. Deakin exhibited frequently at public venues in Oakland as well as in Berkeley where he actively supported the creation of the Berkeley Art Association in 1907. He helped to design and decorate his brother's Studio Building in Berkeley, which became the first home for the California School of Arts and Crafts (today's

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

) and the professional address of many prominent artists, including Henry Joseph Breuer and Evelyn Withrow. His many depictions of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire received great attention. He expanded his Berkeley gallery to maintain a permanent display of one of the three sets of his mission paintings and allowed the public to visit three days a week. He was a British citizen at the time of his death on May 11, 1923.

Publications

1966 saw the publication of ''A Gallery of California Mission Paintings'' by Edwin Deakin, edited by Ruth I. Mahood and produced by the staff of the History Division, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (W. Ritchie Press). The monograph ''Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque'' by Scott A. Shields (Petaluma, CA: Pomegranate) was published in 2008 to coincide with a Deakin exhibit at the

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

in Sacramento.

Gallery

Works from the
Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...
, Sacramento

File:Edwin Deakin--San Gabriel Mission-- nd --Crocker Art Museum.jpg, ''San Gabriel Mission'', no date File:Christmas Morning, Hôtel de Cluny, n.d..JPG, ''Christmas Morning, Hôtel de Cluny'', no date File:Deakin--Humboldt-Mtns--1882----Crocker.jpg, ''Humboldt Mountains, Ruby Range, Nevada'', 1882 File:Edwin Deakin--Le coin de Cuisine--1883--Crocker Art Museum.jpg, ''Le coin de Cuisine'', 1883 File:She Will Come Tomorrow.JPG, ''She Will Come Tomorrow'', 1888 File:Strawberry Creek, Berkeley.JPG, ''Strawberry Creek, Berkeley'', 1892 File:Edwin-Deakin-xx-Notre-Dame-Paris-xx-Private-Collection.jpg, ''Notre Dame, Paris'', 1893 File:Grapes and Architecture.JPG, ''Grapes and Architecture'', 1907 File:Palace of Fine Arts and the Lagoon.JPG, ''Palace of Fine Arts and the Lagoon'', 1915

Works from the
Oakland Museum of California The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cali ...

File:Edwin Deakin--Outdoor Study on Strawberry Creek--1892.jpg, ''Outdoor Study on Strawberry Creek'', 1892 File:Deakin--An Offering to Bacchus--1892--Oakland Museum.jpg, ''An Offering to Bacchus'', 1982 File:Deakin--Sketch--San Francisco Fire--1906.jpg, ''Sketch—San Francisco Fire'', 1906 File:Edwin Deakin--Depair--1906.jpg, ''Despair'', 1906

Works from the
De Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Honor ...
, San Francisco

File:Deakin-Brookes.jpg, ''

Samuel Marsden Brookes Samuel Marsden Brookes (8 March 1816, Newington Green, Middlesex – 31 January 1892, San Francisco) was an English-born American painter. He specialized in still lifes of fish and game, but began as a portrait painter and also produced some lan ...

in His Studio'', 1876 File:Flame Tokay Grapes by Edwin Deakin, 1884.JPG, ''Flame Tokay Grapes'', 1884 File:Edwin Deakin--Court in Chinatown, San Francisco--1886--de Young Museum.jpg, ''Court in Chinatown, San Francisco'', 1886

Elsewhere

File:Edwin-Deakin--Mount-Diablo-from-Near-Pleasanton-Edwin-Deakin.jpg, ''Mount Diablo from near Pleasanton'', no date, private collection File:Edwin Deakin--Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe--nd--private colleciton.jpg, ''Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe'', no date, private collection File:Deakin Edwin Campfire-In-the-Redwoods--LagunnaArtMuseum.jpg, ''Campfire in the Redwoods'', 1876,

Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California, on Pacific Coast Highway. LAM exclusively features California art and is the oldest cultural institution in the area. It has been known as the Laguna Beach Art Associati ...

File:'Cattle Drive near the Mission' by Edwin Deakin, 1876.jpg, ''Cattle Drive Near the Mission'', 1876, private collection File:Deakin--Truckee River Region--1880--Nevada Museum of Art.jpg, ''Truckee River Region'', 1880,

Nevada Museum of Art The Nevada Museum of Art, is an art museum in Reno, Nevada. Located at 160 West Liberty Street in Reno, it is the only American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited art museum in the state of Nevada. The museum has chosen a thematic approach, placi ...

File:Edwin Deakin - Still Life with Grapes - 1989.102 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg, ''Still Life with Grapes'', 1888,

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

File:Edwin Deakin--Lake Tahoe from Near the Little Truckee--1895--private collection.jpg, ''Lake Tahoe from near the Little Truckee'', 1895, private collection File:Edwin Deakin San Carmello Borromeo.jpg, ''Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo'', c. 1897, Santa Barbara Mission Archives Library File:'Roses' by Edwin Deakin, 1912.jpg, ''Roses'', 1912 Crocker Art Museum

References

External links

Art Restoration of Paintings of Old Spanish Missions of California by Edwin Deakin in the Santa Barbara Mission Archive and Library

Video, articles, and images of Deakin's paintings of California missions
at Sullivan Goss art gallery
Edwin Deakin
page at athenaeum.org includes 85 images of works by the artist {{DEFAULTSORT:Deakin, Edwin American landscape painters American romantic painters English emigrants to the United States Artists from Sheffield 1838 births 1923 deaths Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists