ANNA KATHARINE SKEELE

(American, 1896-1963)

TAOS YARD

Watercolor on Paper

15½ x 20¼ Inches

Signed Lower Right, 'A. K. Skeele'

Titled, Verso, 'Taos Yard' (visible from front, lower left)

 

Born in Ohio in 1896, Anna Katharine Skeele began her art journey at Olivet College in Michigan. After moving to southern California in 1912, she settled in Monrovia and continued her studies at Pomona College.

 

During the 1920s, she studied with Armin Hansen at the California School of Fine Arts and, in New York, at the Art Students League under Charles Hawthorne. She then moved to Paris where she studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière with Frederic Bridgman and, subsequently, at the studio of André Lhote. She completed the European period of her education in Italy at the Royal Academy of Arts in Florence.

 

Returning to the United States, she worked as an art teacher at Monrovia High School for many years and her summer vacations were often spent among the Native American tribes of Taos. Over the course of a long and successful career, Anna Skeele was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards. She exhibited widely and with success including at the Laguna Beach Art Association, the California Watercolor Society and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

 

Exhibitions:

San Francisco Art Association 1924, 1929; Nicholson Gallery (Pasadena), 1927, 1928 (solos); Little Studio Gallery (Monrovia), 1930; Calif. State Fair, 1930 (2nd prize); San Diego FA Society, 1930, 1933 (prizes); Laguna Beach Art Association; LA Co. Fair (Pomona), 1930 (award); USC, 1931, 1933 (solos); Santa Cruz Art League, 1934; SFMA, 1935; Calif. WC Society, 1935-50; Oakland Art Gallery, 1939; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; CPLH, 1946; Madonna Festival (LA), 1952; Occidental College, 1962; Pasadena Museum, 1964 (memorial).

 

Collections:

San Diego Museum; Long Beach Museum; Orange Co. (CA) Museum; LACMA; Torrance (CA) High School (mural); Hawthorne (CA) High School Library (mural).