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Joane Cromwell
(1895-1969)
Joane Cromwell was born Catherine Joane Strode on November 22, 1895, in the village of Bernadotte, Illinois, near Lewiston. The daughter of Dr. William Smith and Julie (Brown) Strode, she grew up in Lewiston and graduated with honors from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916. She married Leslie A. Blakely in 1917. The couple divorced in 1922. That same year she became a resident of Laguna Beach, California. During her early years in California, she exhibited under the name Catherine Strode or Catherine Strode Blakely. After adopting the name Joane Cromwell professionally, she moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the Otis Art Institute, graduating in 1929. In 1930, she married Joseph W. Skidmore. In December 1932, she was listed in "California Art & Architecture" magazine's artist directory as a resident of Los Angeles. In 1938, Joseph Skidmore died; in 1942, she married Andrew Christian, whom she divorced in 1948.
During her career, she studied with a number of noted artists, including Anna Hills, Edgar A. Payne, George DeMont Otis, and Jack Wilkinson Smith. For a number of years, she also maintained a studio in the desert near Palm Springs. Joane's early focus was largely on Laguna landscapes. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, she added to her themes, with desert landscapes dominating. Also a muralist, she executed works for the Santa Anita Race Track, Arcadia, California, in 1939, and for the Hollywood Park Race Track, Inglewood, California, in 1942.
In 1957, she married Morris D. Liddle to whom she was married until her death on December 23, 1969, in Santa Ana, California.
Member: Laguna Beach Art Association (charter member and curator); Illinois Academy of Fine Arts of Chicago; Art Guild of the Fine Arts Society of San Diego.
Exhibited: Laguna Beach Art Association Artists' Fiesta, Los Angeles, 1931; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1940; Laguna Beach Art Gallery, 1922-61; American Institute of Chicago, 1918 (honorable mention); Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Illinois State Museum, Springfield; Springville Museum of Art, Utah; Desert Inn Gallery, Palm Springs; Artists of Southern California, San Diego; La Jolla Art Club, 1942 (solo show).
Awards: five gold medals, Ebell Club of Los Angeles.
Works held: Laguna Art Museum; Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce; Sunset Canyon Country Club; Santa Anita Race Tracks (murals); Hollywood Park Race track (murals).
Source:
Hughes, Edan M. Artists In California 1786-1940. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. Sacramento: Crocker, Art Museum, 2002. N. pag. 2 vols. Print.
St. Gaudens, Maurine. "Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960." Vol. 1. 2015.
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