Ernest Clifford Peixotto

Muralist, painter, illustrator. Born in San Francisco, CA on Oct. 15, 1869. Peixotto studied at the SF School of Design under Emil Carlsen and in Paris for seven years with Constant, Lefebvre, and Doucet at Academie Julian. After his return to SF in 1894, he founded an art magazine, The Lark. In 1897 he left for NYC and thereafter divided his time between that city and France where he maintained a villa at Fontainebleau; however, he made many trips back to California to exhibit and execute mural commissions. He painted murals, portraits, and landscapes in oil and watercolor as well as superb pen-&-ink sketches. So excellent were his delineations of buildings that he was elected an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. General John Pershing appointed him an official artist for the American Expeditionary forces in WWI with the rank of captain. After the war, he settled in NYC. Never a starving-in-the-attic artist, he was always assured of a steady income from his illustrations for such magazines as Harper's and Scribner's. One of the highest paid artists in the business, he was versatile as well as prolific. He did 50 illustrations for President T. Roosevelt's Life of Cromwell, and a large number for Henry Cabot Lodge's Story of the Revolution as well as sketches for Robert Louis Stevenson's Letters. Peixotto wrote and illustrated many other books including Romantic California (1911). He died in NYC on Dec. 6,1940.

Member:
Salmagundi Club
Nat'l Society of Mural Painters
Society of Illustrators
NY Architectural League
ANA, 1909
Century Club
AFA
Allied AA
Society des Artistes Francais
Bohemian Club
French Legion of Honor

Exhibited:
Vickery's Gallery, 1892, San Francisco
Calif. Midwinter Int'l Expo, 1894
Guild of Arts & Craft, 1896
SFAA, 1900,1903
PPIE, 1915

Works held:
NMAA
Hispanic Museum, NY

Listed:
WWA 1918
AAA 1919-33
WWAA 1936-41
CAR
AAW
Fid
Ben
BSAA
HU Sam
Bar

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton