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Pedro J. de Lemos Biography

Painter, etcher, illustrator, pastelist, lithographer. Born in Austin, NV on May 25, 1882.

Lemos grew up on Myrtle Street in Oakland and was educated in the public schools there. He studied art in San Francisco with Mary P. S. Benton, Harry Stuart Fonda, and at the Mark Hopkins Institute in 1900 under Arthur Mathews. He further studied in NYC at the ASL under George Bridgman, Arthur Dow, and at Columbia University.

Following his art training, he established a studio overlooking Lake Merritt in Oakland and soon began teaching at UC.

Beginning in 1911 he taught etching and decorative design at the San Francisco Institute of Art and served as director of that school during 1914-17.

Lemos then became director of the Museum of Art at Stanford University, a position he held until retirement. He was the author of Applied Art, Artists Scrap Book, Block Printing, and about 50 books on arts and crafts. The artist died at his home in Palo Alto, CA at 101 Waverly Oaks on Dec. 5, 1954.

Member: SFAA; Calif. Society of Etchers (cofounder, 1912); Carmel AA (1st pres.); Palo Alto AA; Bohemian Club; Calif. PM Society.

Exhibited: Calif. State Fair, 1901, 1916 (gold medal); SFAA, 1912-16; Calif. Society of Etchers from 1913; Sequoia Club (SF), 1914; Calif. Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915; PPIE, 1915; Bohemian Club, 1920s.

In: CSL; Bohemian Club; Stanford Univ.; Monterey Public Library. AAA 1915-33; American Magazine of Art, Aug. 1922; WWAA 1936-62; WWC 1942; Palo Alto Times, 12-6-1954 (obit); Oakland Tribune,7-26-1987.

Source: Edan Hughes, “Artists in California, 1786-1940”