ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK

Mayhew's paintings on paper as they have been called, evoke a distinct luminosity. With her bold use of color and unrefined lines, critics were engaged by the vitality and life of her pieces. Mayhew's monotype etchings infuse the same luminosity revered by color-field painters thirty years later. Although a much more traditional subject matter and process than the Modernists would adopt, Mayhew's light and color achieve a visual effect glowing with color and effervescence. Her art captures the energy and swirling momentum of life.

Mayhew defied the artistic traditions around her -- advocating a new process of printmaking and a new style of painting. She embraced color, freedom of brushstroke, and above all, nature. Nell Brooker Mayhew embodied a bold and innovative approach to art -- challenging artistic practices of those around her. 

AWARDS & AFFILIATIONS

Northwestern University, Bachelor of Science degree
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign , student
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, student
College of Fine Arts, USC, instructor
Los Angeles Art Association, Vice Chairman of Water Color Committee
California Art Club, Vice President
Society of Print Makers of California, Treasurer
West Coast Art Club, member
Laguna Beach Art Association, member
Highland Park Ebell Club, member
Ruskin Art Club of Los Angeles, member
Southern California Society of Arts and Crafts, member
Women Painters of the West, member

COLLECTIONS

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC (Landscape, ND)
Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles (100 color etchings)
Ambassador Hotel, New York (100 color etchings)
Architectural Club of Illinois, Chicago, IL
California State Library, Sacramento, CA
Civic Clinic for Children, Chicago, IL
Ebell Club, Highland Park, CA
Galerie Bremen, Basel, Switzerland
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles, CA
Good Humor Ice Cream Company, Los Angeles, CA
Hotel Shoreman, Los Angeles, CA
Maryland Hotel, Kidston Apartment, Pasadena, CA
Memorial Library, Ashton, IL (Mural)
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Duffy, Los Angeles, CA
National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC
Oregon State Museum, Salem, OR
Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, CA (11 color etchings)
Roger Genser, Santa Monica, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA (7 color etchings)
Sullivan Goss Private Collection, Santa Barbara, CA
Women's Club, San Bernardino, CA

ARTS & CRAFTS PERIOD (1898-1908)

Heavily influenced by the "art for arts sake" philosophy of John Ruskin and William Morris, Nell Brooker Mayhew is often associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Printmakers like Arthur Wesley Dow were concentrated on the neccessity of handmade craftsmanship, simplistic decoration, and high quality materials. The movement insisted upon a correlation between beautiful objects and quality of life -- suggesting beauty could bring inspiration to anyone who encountered it.

Mayhew's process of color etchings was firmly rooted in such a philosophy. Each print represented the delicate abundance of beauty in a simple scene of nature. The artist would personally draw each image, hand etch the drawing, and then print and frame the final piece. She would often go so far as to personally install the art work in the collectors home. The Arts and Crafts idealist believed that the artist must be personally involved in every element of art production.

CALIFORNIA COLOR ETCHINGS PERIOD (1910-1937)

Many women artists of this period were known as printmakers. Artists like Bertha Lum, Lilian May Miller, and Helen Hyde were well known for their neatly rendered figurative images. But, these prints were often conventional reproductions -- lacking the variation or individual nuaces of Mayhew's color etchings. Helen Hyde, bronze medal winner at the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exhibition, was known for her circular prints depicting idyllic scenes. Each rendition remainded much the same in coloration and detail -- following the traditional Japanese woodblock philosophy.

Mayhew was much more experimental in her printmaking style. She embraced individual expression, reflection, and interpretation in each piece -- resisting the element of uniformity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Hughes, Edan Milton. Artists in California, 1786-1940, II, p. 325. San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.
2. U.S. Census, Birth Date, Marriage Dates, Children, Death Date. Accessed through RootsWeb.com
3. Danely, Nellie. Alumni Record, Northwestern University, Library, Archives, 1895-1941.
4. Danely, Nellie. Northwestern University Record of Alumni Accomplishments, 2 pp., Undated, circa 1920.
5. Turner, Steve and Victoria Dailey, Nell Brooker Mayhew: Color Etchings and Paintings. Los Angeles, CA: Turner Dailey Fine & Applied Arts, 1989. 16 pp.
6. Falk, Peter, et al. Who Was Who In American Art. CT: Sound View Press, 1999, 3724 pp.
7. Optiz, Glenn, ed. Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters.... Poughkeepsie: Apollo, 1986, Second Edition, p. 597
8. Dawdy, Doris Ostrander, Artists Of The American West, A Biographical Dictionary, Volume Two. Chicago: Sage Books, 1981, 188 pp.
9. Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge, Mallett's Index of Artists, International - Biographical. New York: Peter Smith, 1948, 283 pp.
10. Hikada, Susan, Assistan Archivist, University of Southern California, Archival Research Center, Specialized Libraries and Archival Collections, University Archives, East Library 227, Los Angeles, California 90089-0189, by email and interview, February, 2003.
11. Excerpts from the book Nell Brooker Mayhew: Paintings on Paper by Alissa J. Anderson, 2003. (to be published March, 2004)