John Mottram (1903 - 1956)

Portrait of Pat, 1936, oil on canvas, 14 x 12, signed and dated lower left, exhibited: San Francisco Museum of Art in 1938 (or 1939); label verso from the museum show includes artist’s name, title of painting and accession number; handwriting verso includes the number “103”, the title “Pat” and Mottram’s Palo Alto address

$8,500

John Mottram was a Northern California-based painter, printmaker, and educator. Mottram was born in Towle, California, coming from a gold mining family. He attended public schools in Sacramento and earned a B.A. degree from Sacramento Junior College and then studied art at the California College of Arts and Crafts and the California School of Fine Arts. Ralph Stackpole was one of his instructors. After his formal training, Mottram held a variety of artistic and craft-related positions. He designed tiles for a firm in Oakland, worked in a pottery workshop in Alameda, and apprenticed under sculptor Pio Tognelli and painter John Emmett Gerrity. In the early 1930s, he relocated to the Peninsula, making Palo Alto his home.

His first major exhibition occurred in 1936 at the Art Center Gallery in San Francisco. Over his career he showed at venues including the Oakland Art Gallery (in 1928, 1932, 1939), the San Francisco Art Center (solo in 1935), and with the San Francisco Art Association (1936). He also participated in the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939 and exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Mottram’s artistic output encompassed figure and portrait painting, such as the present example, still life, graphics, lithographs, and clay sculpture. His style reflected a strong grounding in drawing and composition, with sensitivity to form and an affinity for a bright, saturated palette. From 1948 until his death in 1956, Mottram taught at San José State College (University). He was affiliated with various art organizations including the San Francisco Art Association, Palo Alto Art Club, and the Bay Region Art Association. He is listed in Who was Who in American Art and other standard references.