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Anne Millay Bremer Biography

Anne Bremer was a modern painter, known for still lifes and landscapes. Influenced by cubism and futurism, she was praised for her use of vibrant color and dramatic line.

Born in San Francisco, CA on May 21, 1868 of German parents.  About 1889 Bremer began her art studies locally at the Art Students’ League, San Francisco under Emil Carlsen; and about 1897-98 studies at California School of Design, Mark Hopkins Institute of Art, San Francisco, under directorship of Arthur Mathews. In 1898 she received a University of California Certificate of Proficiency, in Drawing.

In 1910-1911, she was in Paris, France to study with André Lhote and at the Academies Julian,  Moderne and La Palette, and while there exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. She also traveled to Barbizon, Brittany and Italy.

After her studies she was a strong crusader for the modern art movement. At the turn of the century her avant-garde approach departed greatly from the more accepted, academic style of that period. Her early works are moody, tonal pieces akin to those of Whistler, while those after 1911 are influenced by Post-Impressionism. By 1913 she develops Studio Building, 1369 Post St., in partnership with Albert Bender and Spencer and Constance Macky

Her subjects include old barns, dilapidated buildings, and landscapes of Saratoga, San Jose, Monterey and Belvedere as well as portraits and still lifes.  A spinster and lifelong resident of San Francisco, she died there on Oct. 26, 1923, a victim of leukemia.

Member: Joins new San Francisco secessionist group, California Society of Artists (1901); SF Women Artists; President of San Francisco Sketch Club Sketch Club (SF) (by 1906); SFAA (Elected Secretary, 1916); Calif. Art Club

Exhibited: Four paintings included in San Francisco Sketch Club 12th semi-annual exhibition, December; serves on board of Sketch Club (1898); Salon d'Automne (Paris) 1911; SFAA, 1903-22 (silver medals); Del Monte Art Gallery (Monterey), 1907-14; Vickery Atkins & Torrey Gallery (SF), 1912 (solo); Solo exhibition (40 works) at St. Francis Hotel, Rose Room (1912); Solo exhibition, Friday Morning Club, Los Angeles, January 18-February 8 (1913); Solo exhibition at Helgesen Galleries, San Francisco (1914); PPIE, 1915 (bronze medal); Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915, 1916; Three-person “Modern School” exhibition (with Henry Varnum Poor of Stanford and Jerome Blum of Chicago), Museum of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles; begins exhibiting with Los Angeles-based California Art Club (1915); Hill Tolerton Gallery (SF), 1916, 1922 (solos); Exhibits in Society of Independent Artists First Annual Exhibition, New York (1917); Arlington Gallery (NYC), 1917 (solo); In Society of Independent Artists second annual, New York (1917); Receives Bronze Medal in Painting for The Lacquer Screen at San Francisco Art Association Annual (1918); Palace of FA (SF), 1919, 1923 (solo); Included in Western Association of Art Museum Directors traveling exhibition of Selected Work by Western Painters (1922); Print Rooms (SF), 1922, (solo); Memorial Exhibition (1923); Calif. Palace of FA, 1923 (Memorial Exhibition).

Murals: Paints The Year’s at the Spring, mural (on canvas) for Mt. Zion Hospital, San Francisco (1914); Paints (on canvas) a mural panel for San Jose YWCA building, memorial to Dr. Howard E. Gates (1916)

In: SFMA; Mills College (Oakland); Oakland Museum; San Jose YWCA (memorial panel); Mt Zion Hospital, SF (mural); Monterey Peninsula Museum; Irvine (CA) Museum.

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"