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Theodore Wores

Paintings in Inventory

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Artist's Biography

Theodore Wores was an important American artist, whose long career produced outstanding works depicting varied and unusual subjects. A San Francisco native, Wores received professional training in Munich, becoming one of the "Duveneck boys." Exposed to Whistler's fondness for Japanese aesthetics, Wores went to Japan for two extended visits and held successful exhibitions of his Japanese paintings in New York and London where he became friends with Whistler and Oscar Wilde. When Wores returned to make San Francisco his permanent home around 1906, he had developed into a sophisticated artist who had absorbed the influence of French Impressionism while retaining the strict technical abilities of his academic training. In 1912, the art critic of the San Francisco Call wrote: “Theodore Wores has discovered the lupines on the sand dunes near the ocean beach. That is to say, after living here and painting here for–how many years?–30?–let us say upward of 20, and after making many trips to other places…he has found an abundance of material for painting at his very doorstep.” (August 11). For the remainder of his career as an artist, Wores returned to this subject, exploring its nuances in vigorous works like this one that feature bright color accents in the foreground flowers that give way to subtle pastel-colored harmonies in the distance. In addition to capturing the rare beauty of the scene depicted, Wores had an additional motive. On March 22, 1913, the San Francisco Post reported: “Wores’ idea is to preserve on canvas the wilderness of San Francisco as it was up to a year or two ago.” Our painting depicts a view across the Golden Gate to “Lime Point” and Mount Tamalpais on the Marin County side. The native flora of yarrow, paintbrush and lupine have been beautifully articulated in authoritative dabs of pigment.