We recently had the pleasure of seeing an exhibition of E. Charlton Fortune's paintings at the Crocker Museum of Art in Sacramento, California. The Captain is a first cousin twice removed of the artist. He remembers meeting her as a child, but she passed away in 1969, so I never got to meet her. What a pity; I hear she was quite a character and had a great sense of humor.
When Effie was 21, she and her mother survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. For several years she traveled, studied, painted, and exhibited her work in New York, Scotland, and France.
Returning to California in 1912, she divided her time between Carmel, Monterey, and San Francisco. This painting, "Afternoon (Waters Off Monterey)" was painted in 1912.
"The Pier (Late Afternoon, Monterey)" 1914
"Wharf, Monterey" 1915
"El Rancho del Carmelo (Hatton Ranch)" 1920
In 1921 Effie again went to Europe to paint and exhibit her work.
"Conversation Piece" Cromwell House, Scotland, started in 1921, finished in 1962
In St. Ives, Cornwall, UK she did several 12"x16" plein air studies of the harbor. Above is "Scavengers" 1922.
This one is called "Mackerel Season: Bidding on the Catch" 1922.
From these and other studies she did this large studio painting "Summer Morning, St. Ives" in 1923. This painting won a Silver Medal Certificate at the Société de Artistes Français Salon in 1924 in Paris.
"Wine Cargoes" St. Tropez, France 1925
"Drying Sails" St. Tropez, France 1926
"The Old Port" St. Tropez, France 1925
Effie is recognized as one of the great California Impressionist painters. We saw a retrospective of her work at the Carmel Art Institute back in the 1990s, but there are more pieces here. I love her work and sure wish I could afford one of her paintings.
This is just a small sampling of the exhibition. It runs through April 22, 2018 at the Crocker Art Museum, 216 O Street, Sacramento, California.
From there it moves to the Monterey Museum of Art from May 24 to August 27, 2018.
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