Helen Katharine Forbes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Helen Katharine Forbes
|
|
|---|---|
Forbes (June 1938), painting the Mother's Building mural at Fleishhacker Zoo
|
|
| Born | February 3, 1891 San Francisco, California, U.S.
|
| Died | May 27, 1945 (aged 54) San Francisco, California, U.S.
|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Mark Hopkins Art Institute |
| Style | WPA-era painting and murals |
Helen Katharine Forbes (February 3, 1891 – May 27, 1945) was a talented American artist and art teacher from California. She was skilled in etching, painting, and creating large wall paintings called murals. She is most famous for her paintings of western landscapes, portraits of people, and her murals. Many of her murals were created as part of government art programs like the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and the Work Progress Administration (WPA).
Forbes was good at painting with oil, watercolor, and egg tempera. She painted beautiful landscapes of Mexico, Mono Lake, and the Sierra Nevada mountains in the 1920s. In the 1930s, she painted desert scenes from Death Valley. She also created many portraits and still-life paintings.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Helen Katharine Forbes was born on February 3, 1891, in San Francisco, California. When she was 12, her family moved to Palo Alto, California. She went to Castilleja School for Girls and graduated in 1908. Her grandfather, Andrew Bell Forbes, was a California pioneer. He came to California during the 1849 California Gold Rush.
Helen studied art at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute with Frank Joseph Van Sloun. She also learned from artist Armin Hansen near Carmel. Later, she traveled to Europe to continue her studies. From 1921 to 1925, she attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in Germany. She also studied with other artists like André Lhote, Ernst Leyden, and Hermann Groeber.
Artistic Work and Travels
Forbes lived and worked in both Europe and the United States. Even though she traveled a lot, California was always her home. From 1925 to 1926, she visited Guanajuato City, Mexico, a mining town, to find ideas for her art.
Between 1930 and 1932, Forbes made short trips to Death Valley. She found inspiration there for her paintings of the American West. She also traveled to Virginia City, Nevada, to paint its landscapes and scenery. One of her paintings, called Piute Indian, was bought by Mills College. In 1931, she taught art at the University of California, Berkeley.
New Deal Art Projects
In 1939, Helen Forbes worked with another artist, Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli. They painted four large murals inside the Mother's Building at the San Francisco Zoo. These murals show a Noah's Ark theme with many animals. They were paid for by government programs like the Federal Art Project (FAP) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). These programs helped artists find work during the Great Depression. The Mother's Building was later used as a gift shop. The murals now need to be restored, and the room is only used for special events.
Forbes also completed a mural in the Susanville, California, post office in 1939. This mural shows deer and was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.
She was also asked to paint two murals for the Monrovia Public Library in Monrovia, California. These were finished in 1940. One mural shows a grizzly bear and four cubs, painted using egg tempera. The murals were displayed in the post office lobby from 1945 to 1964. During a renovation, they were taken down and stored. Later, people worked to find and restore one of the murals. This mural was put back in the same post office by 2009. The second mural, showing the mother grizzly bear, is still missing.
Exhibitions
Here is a list of some of the places where Helen Forbes's art was shown:
- 1915, De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco
- 1916, De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco
- 1925, Galerie Beaux Arts, San Francisco
- 1932, Los Angeles Museum of Fine Arts
- 1936, San Francisco Museum of Art
Legacy
Helen Katharine Forbes was a member of several art groups. These included the National Society of Mural Painters and the California Society of Etchers. She was also part of the San Francisco Art Association, the Palo Alto Art Club, and the San Francisco Mural Society. From 1928 to 1930, Forbes was the president and a co-founder of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists.
Helen Katharine Forbes passed away at age 54 in San Francisco, California, on May 27, 1945.
In 1931, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor held a special show of her art. This show looked back at her many works.
See also
In Spanish: Helen Katharine Forbes para niños
- List of United States post office murals
