Shirley Williamson (1875–1944) was an American artist and educator, known for her seaside paintings and monotype prints. She was active between 1913 until 1940, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

and Carmel,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Early life and education

At birth she was named Maud Shirley Perry and was born May 25, 1875 in New York City, New York. She attended classes 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 stud ...

studying with

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons School of Design ...

, and later with

Arthur Wesley Dow Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator. Early life Arthur Wesley Dow was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1857. Dow received his first art training in 1880 from An ...

. She married physician Edward Lincoln Williamson in 1903, together they had a son. Williamson continued her studies at

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the numbe ...

in Paris, studying with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and with Auguste Rodin.

Career

Between 1913 and 1926, the Williamson's lived in Berkeley and around the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

. By 1914, they had a second home in Carmel, California and the same year

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

newspaper named Williamson one of a few “notable” artists of Carmel. Her monotype print work was exhibited at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition (PPIE) in the United States Section, sponsored by the San Francisco Art Association. In 1927, the family moved to 1344 Tasso Street in Palo Alto, while the family still maintained the second home in Carmel. Her husband died by 1930, and the family moved two years later in 1932 to nearby 521 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. She was a member of the National Association of Women Painter's and Sculptors; 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 Ram ...

(previously known as Palo Alto Art Club); and San Francisco Art Association. While living in New York City, Williamson had been a president and member of the Woman's Art Club of New York. She taught craft classes at Carmel Summer School of Art in 1924 and 1925, a dramatics class at Stanford University Summer School in 1930, and after 1940 she taught evening classes at

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School, commonly referred to locally as "Paly", is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two schools in the district, the other b ...

. Shirley Williamson died on March 30, 1944 in Palo Alto, and she is buried in Albany, New York.

References

External links

Shirley Williamson (1875–1944)
on AskArt.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williamson, Shirley 1875 births 1944 deaths People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California People from Palo Alto, California Painters from California American women printmakers American women painters Art Students League of New York alumni Académie Julian alumni Artists from New York City