Isabelle Clark Percy West (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Percy; 1882 – 1976) was an American painter, printmaker, designer, and educator. She was known for

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...

s, botanical paintings, and early etchings of the Pacific Coast. She was part of the founding faculty of

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

in Oakland, California.

Early life and education

Isabelle Clark Percy was born on November 6, 1882, in Alameda, California. Her mother was Emma Washburn (

Clark) was from Portland, Maine, from a family that descended from the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

colonists. Her father was George W. Percy a noted San Francisco architect from

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, Maine. She grew up in Oakland, California; with a break from 1894 until 1896 to attended the Fort Wayne School for Girls in Portland, Maine. Percy studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (later known as San Francisco Art Institute), in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, under Arthur Frank Mathews. She continued her studies under Henry Bayley Snell in New York City. She went on to attend

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where she studied under Arthur Wesley Dow. Percy graduated from the Art Department of

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

in 1907. After graduation, she travelled and studied in Europe for a few years. In England, she studied under Welsh artist, Frank Brangwyn. She married George Parsons West, a newspaperman, in 1916.

Career

Artwork

In the 1910s, when "On the Pacific Coast, the profession being in its infancy...there are many encouraging creditable productions that command favorable consideration, among them...Helen Hyde and Isabelle Percy with their pictorial colored prints", Percy was recognized for her etchings. In 1911, she received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon. In 1915, Percy won a bronze medal for her lithographic print at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

Teaching

In 1925, when the California School of Arts and Crafts completed its move from Berkeley to a new Oakland campus at the corner of Broadway and College Avenue, West made the move as well and was named as one of "the school's faculty of highly trained specialists" in the Western Journal of Education (1925).

Legacy

Percy West died on August 25, 1976 in Greenbrae, California. In 1968, the "Isabelle Percy West Gallery" was completed in the topmost level of Founders Hall which was built on the Treadwell Mansion-Oakland campus of

California College of Arts and Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a Private university, private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened ...

, to honor founding faculty of the college. Percy West's work is held in collections at Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, California.

Exhibitions

Percy West exhibited nationally in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Hawaii and New York as well as internationally in Paris and Germany. * 1915, Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California; her lithography work was included * 1928, The Academy of Arts, Honolulu (now the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single co ...

), Honolulu, Hawaii; Percy West's paintings of landscapes and Hawaiian flowers were featured in an exhibit of Hawaiian Paintings * 2020, ''Feminizing Permanence,'' Saint Mary's College Museum of Art, Moraga, California

References

External links

Isabelle Percy West with CCA Founder, Frederick Meyer
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Isabelle Clark Percy 1882 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women painters 20th-century American etchers American lithographers American women academics American women printmakers Artists from Oakland, California California College of the Arts faculty Painters from California People from Alameda, California San Francisco Art Institute alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni