AW212: Lillian Gertrude Prest Ferguson "Chrysanthemums" Post Impressionist Still Life Oil on Canvas Circa 1920's

Lillian Gertrude Prest Ferguson "Chrysanthemums" Post Impressionist Still Life Oil on Canvas Circa 1920's. Signed Lower Left. Presented in original frame bearing remnants of exhibition labels. Two tags on canvas backside: The first a partially obliterated tag with the painting title "Chrysanthemums" and the second inscribed with the following: "> Press Ferguson Studied in Julian Academy, Paris, with Alexander Robinson of Holland, and William Chase in America. Award of cash prize at California State Fair at Sacramento. Award of cash prize by the Minnie Tingle Memorial Fund at the sixth annual exhibition of West Coast Arts, Inc, at Los Angeles, CA, 1927. Special honorable mention, Orange County Fair.

Dimensions: Sight: 24" x 20"; Frame 27 1/2" x 23 1/2"

COMMENTS: Lillian Gertrude Prest Ferguson was a painter and craftsman, Lillian Ferguson was born in Windser, Ontario, Canada and was educated in a convent in Winnipeg where she began painting in 1885. She took private lessons in Toronto with W.L. Forster and later taught at the Winnipeg Art School. She married attorney Peter Ferguson, and the couple spent a lot of time in Scotland and Paris. She studied under Jules Lefebvre at the Academy Julian in Paris and in Holland with Alexander Robinson. Sometime before 1911, the couple settled in Southern California. Her husband died in 1918, and she built a home and studio in Laguna Beach where she spent the rest of her life. Her studio had the first pottery kiln in the city, and she made bowls, lamps, and urns.  She died in Los Angeles on February 2, 1955. She was a member of the California Art Club, the Women Painters of the West, and the San Diego Fine Arts Society.