Ernest Clifford Peixotto

(1869‑1940).

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

Works held: NMAA; Hispanic Museum, NY.

LISTED:

California Art Research

American Art Annual, 1919-1933

Who Was Who in American Art, pg. 477

E. Benezit, v. VIII, pg 193

Biographical Sketches of American Artists

History and Ideals of American Art

Artists of the American West, Samuels

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

Seaman Bank Building, New York City, 1924

Bank of New York, New York City, 1924      

Century Club, New York City, 1924

Filoli Center, Woodside, CA, circa 1930

George Washington Bicentenary, Washington, D.C., 1932

EXHIBITIONS:

Paris, France, Paris Salon, 1890, 91-95

New York City, National Academy of Design, 1908

Chicago, Illinois, Chicago World's Fair, 1895 

San Francisco, CA, Vickery's Gallery, 1892

Mark Hopkins Institute, 1896

San Francisco Art Association, 1900, 1903

Pan-Pacific International Exposition, 1915

AWARDS:

Honorable Mention, Paris Salon, 1895

Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, 1921, Paris, France

Officer of the Legion of Honor, 1925, Paris, France

ASSOCIATIONS:

Bohemian Club, San Francisco

Century Club, New York City (V.P.)

Mc Dowell Club, New York City (P)

Salmagundi Club, New York City

National Soc. Mural Painters, NYC

Allied Artists of America, NYC

Internallied American Club, Paris

The American Club, Paris

Societe des Artistes Francais, Paris

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

The Argonaut Magazine, 9.18.1893

The Out West Magazine, v.19, 1903

The San Francisco Call, 6.24.1907

Scribner's Magazine, v.42, 62, 67

American Magazine of Art, 1920, 26