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Francis McComas
(1875-1938)
Francis John McComas was born in Fingal, Tasmania on October 1, 1875. At age 15, McComas enrolled at the Sydney Technical College. After finishing school, he worked as an illustrator for an advertising firm in Sydney, but realizing the lack of opportunities in Australia, he decided to leave to the United States. He signed on as a crewmember aboard a ship bound for California and arrived in San Francisco in 1898. He studied with Arthur Matthews at the California School of Design and in 1899 studied at the Académie Julian in Paris. On his return to San Francisco in 1902, he had his first solo show at Vickery’s, San Francisco, and in 1904 toured Europe with photographer Arnold Genthe. Architect Willis Polke and artist Charles Rollo Peters were attendants at his marriage to society belle Marie Louise Parrot in San Francisco in 1905. In 1907, while traveling through Greece, the McComas family was presented to the royal family. In 1909 and 1910 he spent time sketching in New Mexico and Arizona before settling into his new home in Carmel in 1912.
In 1913, McComas’s success continued to rise when he was chosen as one of three California artists to participate in the Armory Show and the International Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1915, he was chosen to be on the panel of the International Jury of Awards for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. In 1917, he divorced his wife and married artist Gene Frances Baker of Oakland through artist Xavier Martinez. Together, they moved to Pebble Beach, California. McComas died on December 28, 1938 in Pebble Beach, California. He is nationally known for his landscapes of California oaks and cypresses as well as Southwestern Indian subjects. Eugen Neuhaus summed up his style thus: "The decorative tonalism of his teacher, Arthur Matthews, is evident in his work. The color range of his watercolors is limited to the warm monochrome which is well suited for painting California’s warm summer hills."
Member: Bohemian Club; San Francisco Art Association; Salmagundi Club, New York; American Watercolor Society; Philadelphia Watercolor Society; Society of American Artists.
Exhibited: Vickery, Atkins, & Torrey Gallery, 1899-1914, San Francisco; Lewis and Clark Expo, Portland, Oregon, 1905; Alaska-Yukon Pacific Expo, Seattle, Washington, 1909; Armory Show, New York, 1913; International Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1913; Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915; Philadelphia Watercolor Club, Pennsylvania, 1918; American Watercolor Society, New York, 1921; Courvoisier Gallery, San Francisco, 1935; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1935; Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939; California Historical Society, 1965 (retrospective).
Works Held: Metropolitan Museum, New York ; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Portland Museum, Oregon; Mills College, Oakland; Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey (murals); California Palace of the Legion of Honor; Bohemian Club, San Francisco; Oakland Museum.
Source:
Hughes, Edan M. Artists In California 1786-1940. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. Sacramento: Crocker, Art Museum, 2002. N. pag. 2 vols. Print.
Botke-McComas-Seideneck by Carmel Art Association
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