Newest releases just added! Visit What's New to see the May release publications. The 2012-2013 NYPL Student Planner just arrived--order yours today!
 | |
 |
About the Mathews
San Francisco artists Arthur F. Mathews (1860–1945) and Lucia K. Mathews (1870–1955) produced murals, easel paintings, furniture, interior design, graphics, wooden frames, and other objects in what has come to be known as the California Decorative Style. Arthur’s easel paintings and murals placed figures of myth and allegory in idyllic California settings that evoke a new Arcadia, where they danced in fanciful Greek garb through light-filled landscapes. Similarly prolific, Lucia painted portraits, landscapes, and botanicals in a soft color palette; her dreamy, windswept scenes of the Monterey Peninsula are accented with diffused light and a golden glow. Her expertise as a decorative artist established her as one of the leading artists of early-twentieth-century California.
Arthur Mathews’s family moved to San Francisco from Wisconsin when he was six, and he would spend most of his life in California. Following an apprenticeship in his father’s architectural office and a stint as a designer and lithographer, Mathews traveled to Paris in 1885 to study at the Académie Julian. Returning to San Francisco after four years, Mathews within a year had his first gallery show. At the same time he was garnering prizes and commissions, Mathews began a teaching career at the California School of Design—today’s San Francisco Art Institute.
Native San Franciscan Lucia Kleinhans, although born at a time of restricted roles for women, grew up in a family that supported her pursuit of a formal arts education. After a year’s study at Mills College in Oakland, Lucia enrolled in the California School of Design. The following year, in 1890, Arthur Mathews became not only director of the school, but Lucia’s teacher as well; they married in 1894.
The year 1906 was a turning point for the couple. With the design school and their studio destroyed by the fire that consumed much of San Francisco following the earthquake, Arthur and Lucia involved themselves in the rebuilding of the city. They established the Furniture Shop, where practical necessities—from bureaus to picture frames—were designed and produced in keeping with Arts and Crafts principles. They also founded the Philopolis Press, which published, in addition to books and ephemera such as calendars and bookmarks, the magazine Philopolis, which expounded on matters of art, design, and city planning.
Committed to their mission of treasuring the California they knew and loved, while urging their community forward in the quest for high artistic values, Arthur and Lucia Mathews were key players in California history and in encouraging a West Coast aesthetic. As the leaders of the California Decorative Style, they hold an important and honored place in the history of all American art.
The Oakland Museum of California, whose mission is “to connect communities to the cultural and environmental heritage of California,” has an extensive collection of the art of Arthur and Lucia Mathews that includes more than 500 paintings, drawings, frames, furniture, and other decorative art. The Mathews’s archive, a collection of sketches, notes, cartoon, and other memorabilia, also is housed at the Museum.
Photographs © Oakland Museum of California. All rights reserved.
Arthur Mathews’s family moved to San Francisco from Wisconsin when he was six, and he would spend most of his life in California. Following an apprenticeship in his father’s architectural office and a stint as a designer and lithographer, Mathews traveled to Paris in 1885 to study at the Académie Julian. Returning to San Francisco after four years, Mathews within a year had his first gallery show. At the same time he was garnering prizes and commissions, Mathews began a teaching career at the California School of Design—today’s San Francisco Art Institute.
Native San Franciscan Lucia Kleinhans, although born at a time of restricted roles for women, grew up in a family that supported her pursuit of a formal arts education. After a year’s study at Mills College in Oakland, Lucia enrolled in the California School of Design. The following year, in 1890, Arthur Mathews became not only director of the school, but Lucia’s teacher as well; they married in 1894.
The year 1906 was a turning point for the couple. With the design school and their studio destroyed by the fire that consumed much of San Francisco following the earthquake, Arthur and Lucia involved themselves in the rebuilding of the city. They established the Furniture Shop, where practical necessities—from bureaus to picture frames—were designed and produced in keeping with Arts and Crafts principles. They also founded the Philopolis Press, which published, in addition to books and ephemera such as calendars and bookmarks, the magazine Philopolis, which expounded on matters of art, design, and city planning.
Committed to their mission of treasuring the California they knew and loved, while urging their community forward in the quest for high artistic values, Arthur and Lucia Mathews were key players in California history and in encouraging a West Coast aesthetic. As the leaders of the California Decorative Style, they hold an important and honored place in the history of all American art.
The Oakland Museum of California, whose mission is “to connect communities to the cultural and environmental heritage of California,” has an extensive collection of the art of Arthur and Lucia Mathews that includes more than 500 paintings, drawings, frames, furniture, and other decorative art. The Mathews’s archive, a collection of sketches, notes, cartoon, and other memorabilia, also is housed at the Museum.
Photographs © Oakland Museum of California. All rights reserved.
