Rowena Meeks Abdy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rowena Meeks Abdy
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| Born | April 24, 1887 Vienna, Austria
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| Died | August 18, 1945 (aged 58) San Francisco, California
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Mark Hopkins Institute of Art |
| Known for | Painting |
| Patron(s) | Albert M. Bender |
Rowena Fischer Meeks Abdy (born April 24, 1887 – died August 18, 1945) was an American modernist painter. She mostly painted pictures of nature, called landscapes. Her work focused on the beautiful areas of Northern California.
Contents
Early Life and Art Training
Rowena was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1887. Her parents, John and Anna Meeks, were American. Rowena had a leg problem, so her parents helped her develop her natural talent for art. The family lived in Vienna, Dresden, Paris, and London for a long time. In the 1890s, they moved to San Francisco, California.
From 1904 to 1905, Abdy studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. Her teachers included Arthur Frank Mathews, Charles C. Judson, and Will Sparks. She received an award for her drawing skills. From 1908 to the mid-1940s, her paintings and drawings were shown in over 50 art shows across California. She used oils, watercolors, and mixed media for her art.
Painting California's Beauty
Rowena Meeks Abdy was known for her knowledge of early California history. She often showed this history in her artwork. She mainly painted landscapes, focusing on places in Northern California. These included towns along the coast, old Spanish missions, and scenes from San Francisco.
Abdy lived in Russian Hill in San Francisco. From there, she would travel to paint mining towns and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Her main art studio was in her Russian Hill home. This home was on what is now the famous crooked part of Lombard Street. She bought the house in 1921. Abdy had a big "KEEP OUT" sign in her garden because many curious tourists would visit. From her studio, Abdy could see Marin County, Contra Costa County, and the San Francisco Bay.
Abdy believed that abstract art could be used in homes, not just in paintings. She painted "what she feels about what she sees."
The 1910s: Travel and New Homes
Rowena married a writer named Harry Bennett Abdy. Harry used his writing skills to help promote Rowena's artwork. In 1915, the couple took a steamboat trip. They traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On this trip, they met artist Armin Hansen. He made drawings that Rowena later used for her art.
The Abdys finished their trip in New York City. There, Rowena showed the art she created during their journey. Harry wrote a book about the trip called On the Ohio. This book included illustrations by Rowena. When they returned to California, Abdy built a home on the Monterey Peninsula. She called her studio and home Forest Haven. Here, she painted many Spanish missions and coastal landscapes. In 1917, she moved to San Diego, California. In San Diego, she painted scenes of Old Town. By 1919, Helgesen Galleries in San Francisco represented her work. The gallery showed her watercolors, charcoal drawings, and landscapes of Mission San Juan Bautista.
The 1920s: Road Trips and New Art
During the 1920s, Rowena took many road trips in her car. Her car had special storage areas for her art supplies. The artwork from these trips was later published in a coffee table book called Old California. This book mostly featured her watercolor paintings. John Henry Nash printed the book, and it was dedicated to Henry E. Huntington. Gottardo Piazzoni wrote the introduction. Only 400 copies of this special book were made, and they are now collector's items. Some pictures from the book were used in the University of California alumni magazine and Standard Oil Monthly.
She lived and worked for a short time on Montgomery Street. Then, in 1921, she moved into her Lombard Street home. In the mid-1920s, she started painting still lifes and flowers. In 1926, her painting Old Spanish Street, Monterey was shown at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. This was the first time American artists had their work shown at this museum. That same year, Abdy helped start a cooperative art space called Club Beaux Arts in San Francisco. She had her own art show there in November. She continued to have many solo and group shows there for the rest of the decade. During this time, Rowena and Harry divorced.
In 1927, Abdy painted the D. L. James House. This house was once owned by the writer Daniel Lewis James. Her painting shows the house, made of sandstone and granite, on a cliff in Carmel Highlands, California. It looks out over the ocean.
The 1930s and 1940s: Later Works
In the early 1930s, Abdy stopped using white paint in her watercolors. She showed these new watercolors in San Francisco in March 1931. In March 1932, her drawings and paintings from California and Italy were shown at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Art critics had different opinions about her work. Some praised her "clean colors and entertaining imagination." Others felt her paintings "lacked unity and logic."
Abdy joined and showed her art with the Carmel Art Association from 1934 to 1942. She also contributed to the art display at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1936. As her health declined, she preferred to spend winters in the desert. Her exhibition of Death Valley scenes in 1942 was praised for being simple and natural.
Later Life and Impact
Rowena Meeks Abdy lived in San Francisco until she passed away in August 1945. Papers and items related to her life and work are kept at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Major Art Collections
- Ravello, date unknown, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
- View of an Italian Hill Town, around 1920, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California
- Decoration: Wild Geese, around 1925, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California
- The Robert Louis Stevenson House in Monterey, 1928, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California
