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Henrietta Shore Biography
Born in Toronto, Canada on Jan. 22, 1880, Henrietta Shore began painting at age 13 and studied at St Mary's College in Toronto and later in New York City at the Art Students League with William Merritt Chase, Frank Vincent Dumond, and Robert Henri.

While in London she continued at the Heatherly Art School and was the only private pupil of John Singer Sargent who greatly influenced her work.  After arriving in Los Angeles in 1913, she became active in the local art scene and was a founder of the Modern Art Society.  She maintained a studio in Los Angeles until 1920 and then led a peripatic existence: Newfoundland (1920), Maine (1921, NYC (1920-23), Mexico 1927-28), and San Francisco (1928-29).

Shore was internationally known when an invitation to exhibit brought her to the Monterey Peninsula in 1930.  After establishing a studio in Carmel, she remained and continued painting.  Penniless, she spent her last few years were in the State Mental Hospital in San Jose, CA where she died on May 17, 1963.

Her early works were realistic but matured into impressionist and semi-abstract forms. Her visual repertoire includes landscapes, figure studies, portraiture, and floral still lifes. Robert Henri hailed her as one of the great women painters of her time.

Henrietta Shore and her Work by Merle Armitage was published in 1963, and a chapter was devoted to her in the 1939 book entitled Art from the Mayans to Walt Disney by Jean Charlot.

Memberships: Society of Independent Artists; NY Society of Women Artists (founder); Painters & Sculptors of LA (founder).

Exhibitions:
Panama-California Expo (San Diego), 1915 (silver medal); San Francisco Art Association, 1916-30 (prizes); LA Museum of History, Science & Art, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1927; California Art Club, 1917; Modern Art Workers (LA), 1919-25; California Watercolor Society, 1926; San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, 1927 (solo); San Francisco Women Artists, 1928 (1st prize); California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1928, 1931 (solos); Watrous Gallery (Carmel), 1933; De Young Museum, 1933 (solo); Foundation of Western Art (LA), 1935; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939; Carmel Art Association, 1946, 1963 (solos); Monterey Peninsula Museum, 1986 and Laguna Museum, 1987 (solos).

Collections:
DeSaisset Museum (Santa Clara); Library of Congress; Nat'l Gallery of Canada; San Diego Museum; Dallas Museum; University of Washington (Seattle).

Murals: Assessor's Office (SF); Santa Cruz (CA) Post Office; Custom House and Post Office (Monterey).

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