Markesan Town of Mackford Green Lake County

ARTHUR MATHEWS, 1860-1945
Markesan-Born Artist

From the Fleischer Museum of California and Russian Impressionism:
Arthur Mathews, a painter, muralist, and craftsman was born in Markesan, Wisconsin in 1860. His family moved to Oakland when Arthur was six years old. He received his first art instruction in high school from Helen Tanner Brodt. As a teenager, he worked in his father's architectural office, but later opted for a career in art.

He enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design where he studied with Virgil Williams while working as a designer-illustrator for Britton and Rey Lithographers. He continued his studies for four years in Paris at Academie Julian under Boulanger and Lefebvre.

In 1889, he became director of the School of Design in San Francisco. After reorganizing the school, for the next 17 years he exerted great influence over hundreds of his pupils, many of whom became internationally known.

After the earthquake and fire of 1906, he and his wife, Lucia, worked in their California Street workshop making handcrafted furniture, frames, and producing art works that were highly individualistic. Together they popularized a style known today as the California Decorative Style. His murals and paintings exemplify the Art Nouveau style while others are pre-Raphaelite in design. By 1915, art styles had begun to change and the creeping Modernism made the works of Mathews appear old-fashioned and for half a century his work was eclipsed.

From the Bingham Gallery:
Arthur Mathews is considered one of America's greatest artists. His many paintings exemplify the Art Nouveau style and are both highly individualistic and well-designed. Mathews received his artistic training at the San Francisco School of Design and at Academie Julian in Paris. After returning to San Francisco in 1889, Mathews became the director of the School of Design, where he taught hundreds of emerging artists, many of whom became internationally known. In 1906, Mathews and his wife, Lucia, began making hand-crafted furniture and frames in addition to oil paintings and illustrations. His murals, paintings, and unique pieces of furniture can be seen in many prominent locations in California, including the Oakland Museum, State Capitol in Sacramento (rotunda mural which depicts the history of California), Stanford University, University California at Berkeley, and the Curran Theatre, Children's Hospital and Masonic Temple in San Francisco.

Examples of Mathews' Work
Portrait of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, ca 1893 by Arthur Mathews	Music cabinet, ca. 1910 by Arthur Mathews Bingham Gallery
Youth by Arthur Mathews	Monterey Cypress, oil on canvas, Arthur Mathews
Catacombs of Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Mural Paintings, Arthur Mathews	An Interim Report on the Conservation of the Arthur F. Mathews Murals in the State Capitol Building in Sacramento