Footnotes

• PROVENANCE:
  Private collection, Northern California
  
  EXHIBITED:
  Monterey, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Colors and Impressions: The Early Work of E. Charlton Fortune, September 23, 1989 - October 15, 1990.
  Oakland, The Oakland Museum, The Early Work of E. Charlton Fortune, August 18 - October 14, 1990.
  
  
  E. Charlton Fortune, one of California's leading impressionistic
  painters, was born in Sausalito, California to an American mother and
  Scottish father. Fortune lived and worked in Europe intermittently from
  1897 to 1927. In 1898, she attended St. Margaret's Convent, a Roman
  Catholic girl's school in Scotland. It was during this period that
  Fortune traveled to France, where she encountered the works of the
  European masters. The work of the Impressionists would become
  particularly influential on Fortune's painting style.
  
  Prior to the 1906 earthquake, Fortune studied with Arthur Mathews in San
  Francisco, from whom she learned that line, color, form and composition
  were the basic components of painting. She later studied at the Art
  Student's League in New York, where she worked with Frank Vincent
  Dumond, Francis Luis Mora and William Merritt Chase.
  
  By 1913, Fortune began spending her summers on the Monterey Peninsula,
  at which point her paintings were distinctly impressionist with a high
  key palette and a striking plein air feeling. During the summer of 1914
  in Monterey, William Merritt Chase made a seminal visit to the local
  arts community, possibly influenced by Fortune.
  
  In 1915 San Francisco celebrated its rebirth following the 1906
  earthquake and the completion of the Panama Canal by hosting the Panama
  Pacific Exhibition. Designed by Architect Bernard Maybeck, the Palace
  of Fine Arts was conceived as an overgrown Roman ruin inspired by
  Piranesi's famous etchings. The Palace of Fine Arts was an instant
  success and featured prominently on the San Francisco Day ticket to the
  exhibition. The exhibition hall housed the works of living artists, and
  Fortune was handsomely represented by seven of her paintings. As
  evidenced by the number of depictions of the Palace of Fine Arts in all
  media, the building was an inspiring subject in and of itself.
  
  The Pool reveals Fortune at her most impressionistic with her use of
  bold colors and broad brush strokes. A multitude of contrasting colors
  define the surfaces. The stark teal blue reflections in the pool bring
  into focus the small bits of sky piercing through the columns. The
  green-garbed woman on the right with the matching parasol creates a
  bright green reflection in the pool contrasting with the blues. The
  palace itself is composed of tan colors highlighted with vibrant pink
  tones. The Pool is a significant picture in Fortune's early work in
  quality of execution and resonates today due to its beautiful subject.

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Category: Fine Art / California and Western Paintings

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