Lucy Angeline Bacon (July 30, 1857 – October 17, 1932) was a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

n artist known for her California Impressionist oil paintings of florals, landscapes and still lifes. She studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under the Impressionist

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...

. She is the only known Californian artist to have studied under any of the great French

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

Early life and education

Born in 1857 in

Pitcairn, New York Pitcairn is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 846 at the 2010 census. The name is from that of Joseph Pitcairn, an early landowner and diplomat. The Town of Pitcairn is in the southwestern part of the c ...

. Bacon graduated by 1879 from the Potsdam Normal School in New York. She was related to Robert K. Vickery, through the marriage of her niece Ruth. In the 1890s, his father was a part-owner of a San Franciscan gallery, Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, the first gallery to exhibit the Impressionism in San Francisco. Bacon studied in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

and the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

. In 1892 she left for

to continue her studies at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

. She then studied with

, as advised by American painter

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

Career

She then moved to Éragny and made Impressionist paintings. By 1898, she lived in San Jose and was exhibiting paintings such as ''A San Jose Garden'' at the

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 ...

Art Association. She moved to California in the hope of improving chronic illness which limited her ability to paint. She taught at Washburn Preparatory School in San Jose and painted from her home studio. In the spring of 1902, her works were exhibited at the

Mark Hopkins Institute of Art San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a Private college, private art school, college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mis ...

in San Francisco. In 1905, while Lucy Bacon renounced her painting career and devoted herself to the

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices which are associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes in ...

religion, possibly finding it eased her health problems, and she continued to teach art. By 1909, she was living in San Francisco. Lucy Bacon was a member of the Indian Fair Committee of the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs (NMAIA) and Eastern Association on Indian Affairs (EAIA) in 1927, which exhibited works by Native American artists. She died in San Francisco in 1932. Her painting, ''Garden Landscape'' made between 1894 and 1896, is among the collection of the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

Gallery

File:Lucy Bacon, Garden Landscape, 1894-1896, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco.jpg, ''Garden Landscape'' (ca. 1984–1896) File:Gennevilliers - Lucy Bacon ~1895.JPG, ''Gennevilliers'' (c. 1895), made when she was studying under Camille Pissarro

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Lucy Angeline 1857 births 1932 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century American women painters 20th-century American painters American Impressionist painters Artists from San Jose, California Artists from San Francisco Painters from California 20th-century American women painters Académie Colarossi alumni American expatriates in France

Early life and education

Career

Gallery

See also

References