Wores, Theodore (1859-1939).

Mile Rock Light House from the Ocean Shore of San Francisco by Theodore Wores (1859-1939) 30" x 25", Oil/Canvas, Signed Lower Right Est.: $30,000 - $40,000 Sold by John Moran Auctioneers for $31,630 on 6/19/2007

Born in San Francisco, CA on Aug. 1, 1859.

Wores began his art training at age 12 in the studio of Joseph Harrington who taught him color, composition, drawing, and perspective.

When the local School of Design opened in 1874 he was one of the first pupils to enroll. After one year at that school under Virgil Williams, he further studied at the Royal Academy in Munich and painted with Rosenthal, Chase, Duveneck, and Whistler.

Upon returning to San Francisco in 1881, he began painting Chinatown subjects.

Three years were spent in Japan in the mid-1880s followed by years of traveling when he exhibited in London, NYC, Boston, and made a second trip to Japan before returning to San Francisco in 1898.

About this time Wores concentrated on portraiture but began painting the California landscape for the first time. The years 1901-03 were ones of travel in Hawaii, Samoa, and Spain. The Wores family home and his studio burned in the 1906 fire. The following year he was appointed dean of the San Francisco Art Institute, a position he held for six years.

In 1913 he painted in Hawaii and Calgary, Canada and 1915-17 was spent in Taos, NM where he painted the Southwest Indians.

In 1926 he remodeled an abandoned church in Saratoga and converted it into a weekend retreat while maintaining a residence in San Francisco at 1001 California Street.

His artistic output was great and included Japanese, Hawaiian, Samoan figure studies and San Francisco Chinatown subjects. In his later years he concentrated on the flowering orchards around his studio in Saratoga. During his early career his palette held the warm brown colors of the Munich School and evolved later to the lighter shades of Impressionism.

He died in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 1939 having had a long and successful career.

Member: Bohemian Club; Century Club; Salmagundi Club; Art Society of Japan; New English Art Club (London); SFAA.

Exh: Royal Academy (Munich), 1876, 1878 (gold and bronze medals); Royal Academy (London); Paris Salon; Calif. State Fair, 1882, 1899; SFAA, 1882-1915; World's Columbian Expo (Chicago), 1893; Calif. Midwinter Expo, 1894; Bohemian Club, 1894 (solo); NAD; St Louis Expo, 1895 (medal); Century Club (NYC), 1904; Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (gold medal); PPIE, 1915 (gold medal); Bohemian Club, 1922; Stanford Museum, 1922; Stendahl Gallery (LA), 1924; Cosmos Club (Washington, DC); GGIE, 1939.

In: Bohemian Club; Oakland Museum; CPLH; De Young Museum; SFMA; St Francis Hospital (SF); CGA; LACMA; White House (Washington, DC); Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley); Crocker Museum (Sacramento); Monterey Peninsula Museum; Honolulu Academy of Arts; Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth); NMAA; Brooklyn Museum; Indianapolis Museum; Portland (OR) Museum; Triton Museum (Santa Clara); Society of Calif. Pioneers; CHS.

Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
California Art Research, 20 volumes; Impressionism, The Calif. View; Art in California (R. L. Bernier, 1916); California Impressionism (Wm. Gerdts & Will South); Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Theodore Wores, the Japanese Years; Theodore Wores, Artist in Search of the Picturesque; American Art Annual 1919-33; SF Chronicle, 9-13-1939 (obituary).