Theodore Wores (August 1, 1859 – September 11, 1939) was an American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. He was from San Francisco, and travelled extensively including periods in Germany, Japan, Hawaii, and Samoa.

Life

Theodore Wores was born on August 1, 1859, 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 ...

, son of Joseph Wores and Gertrude Liebke. His father worked as a hat manufacturer in San Francisco. Wores began his art training at age twelve in the studio of Joseph Harrington, who taught him color, composition, drawing and perspective. When the California School of Design (later known as San Francisco Art Institute) opened in 1874, Wores was one of the first pupils to enroll. After one year at that school under the landscape painter Virgil Macey Williams, he continued his art education at the Royal Academy in Munich where he spent six years. He also painted with

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design. ...

and

Frank Duveneck Frank Duveneck (né Decker; October 9, 1848 – January 3, 1919) was an American figure and portrait painter. Early life Duveneck was born in Covington, Kentucky, the son of German immigrant Bernhard Decker. Decker died in a cholera epidemic whe ...

. Wores returned to San Francisco in 1881. He went to Japan for two extended visits and had successful exhibitions of his Japanese paintings in New York City and London, where he became friends with

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

. He visited

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in 1901 to 1902 and established a home in San Francisco about 1906. He visited Hawaii for a second time in 1910 to 1911. He was married in 1910, in San Francisco to Carolyn Bauer. For the remainder of his career, Wores painted the coast on the western edge of San Francisco. He died from a heart attack in San Francisco on September 11, 1939.

Collections

His most famous work is ''The Lei Maker'', which is on permanent display at 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 ...

. The

Addison Gallery of American Art Addison may refer to: Places Canada * Addison, Ontario, a community United States * Addison, Alabama, a town * Addison, Illinois, a village * Addison, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Addison, Maine, a town * Addison, Michigan, a vil ...

(Andover, Massachusetts), the

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

(Sacramento, California), the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

(Washington, DC), and the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

(Washington, DC), are among the public collections that also hold works by Wores.

Works

* 1900 - ''Custom House, Monterey'', oil on pressboard, Shasta State Historic Park,

Shasta County, California Shasta County (), officially the County of Shasta, is a County (United States), county located in the Northern California, northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 182,155 as of the 2020 census, up from 177,223 from t ...

* 1901 - ''Hawaiian House'', oil on canvas * 1901 - ''The Lei Maker'', oil on canvas,

, Honolulu, Hawaii 'Hawaiian House', oil on canvas painting by Theodore Wores.jpg, ''Hawaiian House'' (1901) oil on canvas painting by Theodore Wores Theodore Wores - House and Garden, Saratoga.jpg, ''House and Garden, Saratoga'' Theodore Wores - Chinese Restaurant.jpg, ''Chinese Restaurant,'' (1884) oil on canvas,

References

* Forbes, David W., ''Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941'', Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, pp. 204–224. * Gerdts, William H., ''The World of Theodore Wores'', Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., 1999, * Hover, Laurie, "Lizzie",

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, December 1970, pp. 46–47 * Pitzer, Pat, ''An Artist-Adventurer in Turn-of-the-century Hawaii'',

, May 1987, pp. 69–101

External links

Artwork by Theodore Wores

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wores, Theodore 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists 1859 births 1939 deaths Painters from San Francisco