Elizabeth Charleston

Infobox artist
name = Elizabeth Charleston


imagesize = 150px
caption = Spring Grove
birthdate = 1910
location = San Francisco, California
deathdate = 1997
deathplace = San Rafael, California
nationality = USA
field = Painting

Elizabeth Charleston was a San Francisco nativecite web | title=Elizabeth Charleston Bio on AskArt.com | url=http://www.askart.com/askart/c/elizabeth_charleston/elizabeth_charleston.aspx | accessdate=2008-08-26] known for her impressionist flower and landscape paintingscite web | url= http://www.sfchroniclemarketplace.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/04/11/MN72240.DTL&hw=obituaries&sn=073&sc=655 | title= San Francisco Chronicle Obituary for Elizabeth Charleston|accessdate=2008-09-17] . Charleston began painting at the age of 50, while recovering from an automobile accident.

Life and work

Elizabeth Charleston was born in San Francisco, California in 1910, shortly after the devastating San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. She attended the Katherine Delmar Burke School and lived the life of a wealthy San Franciscan of the time. During her youth, she lived in France, and those memories later were reflected in her works. Her family was closely connected with the San Francisco Bay Area arts communitycite web|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/index.cfm/fuseaction/Collections.ViewCollection/CollectionID/8255?term=%22Elizabeth%20Charleston%22#Elizabeth1|title=Maren M. Froelich papers, 1906|accessdate=2008-09-17] .

At the age of 50, Charleston was in an automobile accident which limited her activities and mobility. She began painting for the first time while recovering.

The San Francisco Chronicle's late art critic Alfred Frankenstein reviewed her showing at the Pomeroy Gallery in 1968, and said Charleston had a "wonderful eye" for flowers -- "totally charming, decorative and delectable." Most of her works were impressionist oil paintings of flowers and the French countryside. Her works are available widely today, and have been shown in numerous museums and galleries in the US, Brussels, and Pariscite book | last = Hammer | first = Victor J. | title = Elizabeth Charleston | publisher = S & R Hayden | date = 1976 | location = New York | pages = 8] , including Hammer Galleries in NY (at least four one-woman exhibitions at Armand Hammer's famed galleries)cite web|url=http://www.biblio.com/books/11286421.html|title=Elizabeth Charleston, Hammer Galleries, NY, 1976|accessdate=2008-09-17] , Frank H. Boos Gallery in Bloomfield MIcite web|url=http://www.prices4antiques.com/paintings/oil-on-canvas/Charleston-Elizabeth-Oil-on-Canvas-signed-Les-Fleurs-Du-Midi-B100143.asp|title=Les Fleurs Du Midi|accessdate=2008-09-17] , Conacher Galleries in San Franciscocite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n8_v82/ai_15677972/pg_49|title=Conacher Galleries|accessdate=2008-09-17] , Salon des Femmes Peintres in Paris in 1974cite web|url=http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=121388|title=Elizabeth Charleston biography|accessdate=2008-09-17] , the Salon exhibition at Société des Artistes Français in 1973, the US Embassy in Brussels, and at the Nationale des Beaux Arts Exposition du Tricentenairecite web|url=http://cgi.ebay.fr/BEAUTIFUL-STILL-LIFE-OIL-BY-ELIZABETH-CHARLESTON-LISTE_W0QQitemZ300244847192QQihZ020QQcategoryZ551QQcmdZViewItem|title=BEAUTIFUL STILL LIFE OIL BY ELIZABETH CHARLESTON|accessdate=2008-09-17] in 1973.

Charleston is listed in Clara, the National Museum of Women in the Arts' database of women in the Artscite web|url=http://www.nmwa.org/clara/search_artist_detail.asp?artist_id=18762|title=Clara Artist Information Database, Elizabeth Charleston|accessdate=2008-09-17] . Charleston is popular with San Francisco Bay Area collectors, including Laura King Pfaff (chairman of Bonhams & Butterfields, the world's third largest auction house)cite web|url=http://www.sandygarson.com/laura_king_pfaff.html|title=LAURA KING PFAFF: THE ASTONISHING REWARDS OF BEING A GOOD SPORT|accessdate=2008-09-17] .

Charleston passed away on April 8, 1997 in San Rafael, California, near San Francisco.

References