William Arthur Paxton Biography

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William Arthur Paxton (1873 - 1965) Landscape painter. Born in Port Perry, Ontario, Canada on May 2, 1873. Paxton moved to southern California in 1890 and settled in Orange. He worked in the silver mines in Colorado for a few years before joining the rush to the gold mines in Alaska in 1897. (His account of the experience called "Four Years of Klondike Fever" was published in the Alaska Sportsman in the 1950s.) Returning to California, he entered Stanford University and was granted a degree in drawing when the 1906 earthquake closed the school. In 1910 he studied at the AIC. He was a resident of Los Angeles by 1919 and soon was active in the local art scene while his wife acted as chairman of the Friday Morning Club. For many years he headed the art department at Fairfax High School. He lived in Los Angeles until the last few months of his life. Paxton died in Albuquerque, NM on April 21, 1965. Exh: Calif. Art Club, 1922-28; Painters & Sculptors of LA; 1930; Friday Morning Club (LA), 1930; Gardena (CA) High School, 1933; LA City Hall, 1937. & lnvw; SCA; AAA 1919-25; CA&A.

California Watercolor