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Ad Code: 3
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from Auction House Records.
Tocaloma Looking from Olema, California
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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Biography from DeRu's Fine Arts:
| Manuel Valencia was born in Marin County, California on October 30,
1856 on the family hacienda called Rancho San Jose, which is now
Hamilton Field. A member of one of California's earliest
families, Manuel was named after his grandfather who came to California
with the Anza Party in 1774 and became administrator of the Presidio in
San Francisco. The Valencia’s were given many land grants in the
San Francisco Bay area and a street near Mission Dolores is named in
honor of his family. Manuel attended Santa Clara College and then
established a studio in San Francisco.
He began painting when
he was quite young and remained a self-taught artist except for a few
lessons with Jules Tavernier locally and in Mexico City. The earthquake
and subsequent fires in 1906 caused the Valencia’s to move down the
peninsula to San Jose, however he commuted daily to his San Francisco
studio and worked as a staff artist for the "San Francisco Chronicle"
and as an illustrator for the Salvation Army Newspaper.
A
prolific painter, Valencia is best known for his landscapes and
historic scenes of Northern California, which often included nocturnal
adobes, missions and pueblos. Following an operation, he died in
Sacramento on July 6, 1935. His ashes were scattered on Mount
Tamalpais.
Source: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940 |
Biography from William A. Karges Fine Art - Beverly Hills:
| | Manuel Valencia was born in Marin County in 1856, to a land-rich early
California family. His grandfather came to California with the Anza
party in 1774 and became administrator of the Presidio in San
Francisco. Manuel was largely a self-taught artist except for a
few lessons with Jules Tavernier. Manuel maintained a studio in
San Francisco, where he specialized in landscapes and historical works
featuring the California Missions. A prolific artist, he was also a
staff artist for the San Francisco Chronicle. |
Biography from AskART:
| A painter of California history and western landscapes, Manuel Valencia
was born in Marin County, California in 1856 on the Rancho San Jose,
the Valencia hacienda. The family received many land grants in
the San Francisco area because of their ties to settlement
history. He was a descendant of General Gabriel Valencia, the
first governor of the state of Sonora, Mexico under Spanish rule.
He was named for his grandfather, who arrived in California in 1774 and
became administrator of the Presidio in San Francisco.
Valencia
studied with artists including Jules Tavernier in the San Francisco
area, where he lived his entire life, and attended what is now Santa
Clara University. He also spent some time in Mexico where he was
a member of the Esquela de Bellas Artes de Mexico.
Early in his
career, he was a commercial artist who designed calling cards.
After the 1906 earthquake and fire, Valencia and his family moved to
San Jose, but he commuted to his studio in San Francisco. There
he was art editor of the "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper under art
patron M.H. de Young, for whom the museum in San Francisco is
named. War Cry, the Salvation Army newspaper, also hired Valencia as its first illustrator.
During the time he did illustration work in San Francisco, he kept
studios in Monterey and Santa Cruz, did landscapes in Tonalist styles
including moonlit scenes that were similar to those of Charles Rollo
Peters and indicated he had an awareness of the poetic aesthetic
of James McNeill Whistler.
Around 1912, he began exhibiting in San Francisco galleries such as S
& J Gumps and in New York at Macbeth Gallery and exclusive
restaurants such as Delmonico's. President William McKinley, who
purchased one of his Yosemite paintings, was amongst his growing list
of collectors. He also did desert scenes of Arizona and New
Mexico landscapes. He remained in San Francisco until the early
1930s and then moved to Sacramento where he died on July 6, 1935.
His family scattered his ashes on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County.
In
addition to the California capitol, Valencia's work can be seen in the
Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, California; the San Jose Historical
Museum; and the Orange County Museum.
Sources:
Carol Lowrey, The Poetic Vision: American Tonalism, (Spanierman Galleries)
Michael David Zellman, Three Hundred Years of American Art
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940 |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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Manuel Valencia is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Tonalism
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