Albert DeRome (1885-1959)

Born in San Luis Obispo County, CA on June 26, 1885 . In his youth DeRome worked at the Congress Spring Hotel in Saratoga, and in San Francisco at the Palace Hotel and at his uncle’s Globe Foundry. He studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute under Mathews, Stanton, and Latimer. He applied his art initially to political cartoons and commercial ventures. His close friends and sketching partners included painters Wm Keith, Carlos Hittell, Will Sparks, Frank M. Moore, Percy Gray, Frank H. Myers, and Gunnar Widforss. From 1915-31 he painted in Nevada, Arizona, and throughout California. Following a serious auto accident in 1931, DeRome gradually recovered the ability to paint; however, an insurance policy prevented him from selling his work or exhibiting as a professional artist. He did exhibit as an “amateur” in California, gaining recognition and several first prizes. He often would give his paintings to friends and relatives in exchange for favors. An Impressionist, his work includes luminous landscapes and seascapes in oil and watercolor. DeRome spent his later years on the Monterey Peninsula. He died in Carmel on July 31, 1959. After De Rome’s death, the pioneering and prolific collectors Walter Nelson-Rees and James Coran rediscovered him. Nelson-Rees wrote a wonderful account of his life which was published as a large format book. Unfortunately, the tremendous collection of De Rome’s work that Nelson-Rees and Coran had assembled was destroyed in the wind driven maelstrom of the Oakland fires of 1990. Thus, a large portion of De Rome’s artistic production was destroyed in a few short minutes, making his works much rarer than they deserve to be. Source: Jeffrey Morseburg 2009.