Lucy Bacon facts for kids

Lucy Angeline Bacon (born July 30, 1857 – died October 17, 1932) was an American artist from California. She was famous for her Impressionist oil paintings. She painted flowers, landscapes, and everyday objects. Lucy Bacon studied art in Paris with a famous Impressionist painter named Camille Pissarro. She is the only known artist from California who studied with one of the great French Impressionist painters.

Early Life and Art Studies

Lucy Bacon was born in 1857 in Pitcairn, New York. She finished her studies at the Potsdam Normal School in New York by 1879.

Lucy had a family connection to the art world. Her niece, Ruth, married into the Vickery family. In the 1890s, Robert K. Vickery's father co-owned a gallery in San Francisco. This gallery, called Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, was the first to show Impressionist art in San Francisco.

Bacon studied art in New York City at the Art Students League. She also attended the National Academy of Design. In 1892, she traveled to Paris to continue her art education. She studied at the Académie Colarossi. An American painter named Mary Cassatt suggested that Lucy study with Camille Pissarro.

Painting Career

After her studies, Lucy Bacon moved to Éragny, France. There, she created many Impressionist paintings. By 1898, she was living in San Jose, California. She began showing her paintings, like A San Jose Garden, at the San Francisco Art Association. Lucy moved to California hoping to improve her health. Her health issues sometimes made it hard for her to paint. She taught art at the Washburn Preparatory School in San Jose. She also painted from her home studio.

In the spring of 1902, her artworks were shown at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco. Around 1905, Lucy Bacon stopped her painting career. She focused on her health and other interests. However, she continued to teach art.

By 1909, she was living in San Francisco. Lucy Bacon was also part of the Indian Fair Committee in 1927. This committee helped show artworks by Native American artists. She died in San Francisco in 1932.

One of her paintings, Garden Landscape, is part of the collection at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She created this painting between 1894 and 1896.

Gallery

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  Garden Landscape (around 1894–1896)

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  Gennevilliers (around 1895), painted while she studied with Camille Pissarro.

See also

• American Impressionism
• In Spanish: Lucy Bacon para niños