The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 2001, Volume 47, Number 3
Gregg Hennessey, Editor
Back to the Article: An Overview of San Diego Artists
The Southern California landscape was a principal theme in painting and that landscape was dominated by eucalyptus tree. Southern California artists soon earned the sobriquet the Eucalyptus School, a phrase coined by Merle Armitage, art writer for the West Coaster in the 1920s. It became a term applied in the press to a description of the many grove-filled canvases by artists depicting the imported Australian tree that Armitage described as “harmless art.” Eucalyptus School, as Impressionism before it, carried negative implications about the artists’ works. The attitude has not entirely abated. #2611-310
Above: Portrait of Alonzo Horton, William Thurston Black (American, 1816/17-1893). Oil on Canvas, circa 1885, 29 1/4 x 24 inches, Gift of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, 1949.3
Hotel Del Coronado. #81:11666
Pastoral Landscape, Ammi Merchant Farnham (American, 1845-1922). Oil on Canvas, Signed LR: A. M. Farnham, 191/2 x 36 inches, Gift of Lawrence Laughlin. Photo #81.64.1
Portrait of Charles Arthur Fries.
Photo #81-12845.
Portrait of Charles Reiffel. Photo #81:12844.
Portrait of Maurice Braun. Photo #84:15263-79.jpg.
Braun opened the San Diego Art Academy in this building, the Fisher Opera House, in 1910.
Photo #6190.
Portrait of Alfred Mitchell. Photo #88:16611.
Businessman’s Art Club outside the Serra Museum, Presidio Par, 1943. Photo #19092-1.
Artists and patrons at the first opening for Contemporary Artists of San Diego, Fine Arts Gallery, February 1930. Photo #84:14810.
Artist painting outdoors.
Photo #83:14605-5.
