Ethel Wickes (1872-1940)

Born in Hempstead, Long Island, New York on Feb. 13, 1872, Wickes moved with her family to northern California in 1886. She began painting while in her early teens and studied art in Paris at Académies Julian and Colarossi. While in Europe she sketched in Holland, England, and Ireland. She then returned to San Francisco where she remained except during 1907-09, when she lived in Pacific Grove and during 1911 when she was in Seattle to place murals in the Florence Henry Memorial Chapel. At the time of her death in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 1940 she headed the art section of the California State Federation of Women’s Clubs. Working in watercolor and oil, she was a prolific painter of geese and California wild flowers. Exhibitions: Morris Gallery (NYC), 1890; San Francisco Art Association, 1898-1901; Washington AA, 1911; Calif. State Fair, 1900-02, 1917 (medal); Newport (RI) Garden Club, RI), 1919 (solo); Fairmont Hotel (SF), 1925; Stanford University, 1925 (solo); Worden Gallery (SF), 1926, 1929 (solos); Everhardt Museum (Scranton, PA), 1929 (solo); De Young Museum, 1933, 1940 (solos); Roosevelt Hotel (Hollywoood), 1935; Chico State College, 1939; Golden Gate International Exhibition, 1939. In: Shasta State Historical Monument; Huntington Library (San Marino).