 Louise Oliver Beebee is primarily known as Louise Beebee Oliver
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Ad Code: 4
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"Figure with Architecture", 1936 watercolor, 14" x 22"
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Lousie Oliver was born on September 18, 1912 in Rialto, California. She died on May 18, 1999 in
Huntington Beach, California. She was a daughter of Walter Henry and Annie
Oliver.
She created novels, stories, an autobiography, and
numerous paintings and drawings with a unique style. She married
Frederick Lawrence Beebee (1912-1977) in 1935 and her first child
(John Christopher Beebee) was born in 1941, followed by Jenifer Ellen
Beebee, Emily Jayne Beebee, and Thomas Oliver Beebee.
Her early art
education came from her mother, Annie Oliver, but there was never any
resemblance in their styles. Her increasing family responsibilities
eventually eclipsed the time and energy she had for art and
writing. Her husband was chief engineer for the Deutsch Company, a
large Los Angeles manufacturer. She lived all her life in San
Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties. Her recognizable style was
quite developed by the time she graduated from Manual Arts High
School in Los Angeles.
When her father, chief civil engineer of the
Grand Division of the Santa Fe Railroad, was killed in a railroad
accident in 1921, a relative (chairman of the Board of the Santa Fe
Railroad) funded a tour of Europe for Louise and her mother, where
they spent some time viewing the “masters.” Louise said afterwards
that it was pure vanity to think that you could become a master by
spending a few years learning to paint. She subsequently studied art
at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Otis Art
Institute and observed that when drawing with a pencil or crayon, it was like watching
someone stir a pot. Out of a mass of almost invisible lines an image
would emerge by a process of natural selection, as some lines were
reinforced and others ignored. (She was left handed.)
Although
not dismissive of drawing skill, theory, and craftsmanship; she put
more value on imagination and individual style. For purposes of
presentation her images have been divided into categories: juvenalia,
drawings, costume designs, fashion designs, thematic, figure studies,
portraits, watercolors, and cards. In her more finished works she
suggests the subject and then renders her emotional reaction through
line and color.
There is a copy of “Autobiography of an Egotist” (about 1928) at The
Kansas State Historical Society; and other relics from the family of
Walter Henry Oliver and Annie Oliver.
These biographical notes were
written and provided by the artist's eldest son, John Beebee, in 2008. Louise Oliver’s artworks
are for the most part in the possession of her children: John
Christopher Beebee, Jenifer Ellen Beebee, Emily Jayne Beebee, Thomas
Oliver Beebee (all living in 2008).
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Born in Rialto, California on September 18, 1912, Louise Oliver was a
resident of Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s. She studied
locally at the Otis Art Institute. Her married name was Beebe.
She was a resident of San Bernardino, CA until shortly before her death in Anchorage, Alaska on May 18, 1999.
Member: Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles.
Exhibition: Junior Museum (LA), 1928; California Water Color Society, 1930 (2nd prize). | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
California Arts and Architecture list, 1932; American Art Annual 1933; Who's Who in American Art 1936-41; Social Security Death Index (1940-2002). | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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