RALPH WILLIAM HOLMES (1876- 1963)
Artist Images
Known as a writer as well as artist and teacher,
Ralph Holmes distinguished himself as a mural
painter in Pittsburgh and New York before moving to
California where he had a long teaching and painting
career. "His landscapes of Yosemite and Bryce Canyon
as well as the desert and rolling hills of southern
California have brought him national fame." (Hughes,
540)
He was born in La Grange, Illinois, and growing up
in Illinois attended Northwestern University for
three years, and the Art Institute of Chicago for
four years. He studied in Paris, and from 1903-1912,
was on the faculty of the Art Institute of Chicago.
He then spent five years as Chair of the Department
of Painting and Decorating at Carnegie Institute of
Technology in Pittsburgh.
In 1916, he went West, spending the summer on the
Hopi Reservation in Arizona, and from that time, he
continued to paint in the Southwest. In 1918, he
moved to Atascadero in Southern California, and
became a teacher at the Otis Art Institute from 1923
to 1948, and for twenty-five years was also art
instructor at the Marlborough School for girls. He
served as art editor and writer for E.G. Lewis's
Illustrated Review, was a four-term President of the
California Art Club, President of "Art in National
Defense", and a member of the Academy of Western
Painters.
He died in San Luis Obispo.
Memberships:
Academy of Western Painters, Los Angeles; Long Beach
Art Association; Laguna Beach Art Association
Exhibitions:
Carnegie Institute, 1915 (silver medal); Atascadero
Art Association, 1918; Oakland Art Gallery, 1919;
California Art Club, 1924-38; Painters & Sculptors
of Los Angeles, 1926-32 (gold medal); Pasadena Art
Institute, 1928; California State Fair, 1930; Santa
Cruz Art League, 1934; Los Angeles Art Association,
1937; City Hall, Los Angeles, 1938; American Artists
Congress, Los Angeles, 1938; Chamber of Commerce
(Santa Paula), 1938; Los Angeles County Museum of
Art, 1939 (solo); Sanity in Art (Los Angeles, 1940;
Santa Paula, 1940 (1st prize); Golden Gate
International Exposition, 1940; Gump's (San
Francisco), 1940; Ebell Club (Los Angeles), 1942;
Glendale Art Association, 1950.
Sources: Edan Hughes, Artists in California,
1786-1940; Doris Dawdy, Artists of the
American West, Vol. III
