MILLER
FINE ART
Born September 30, 1882 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, Elsie Lower Pomeroy became a California Scene painter.
She moved to Washington D.C. where she attended the Corcoran School of Art in the early 1900s. By 1908, she was working as an artist for the United States Department of Agriculture where she drew botanical studies for the USDA Yearbook. The 1908 USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Yearbook contained four of her images including peach, persimmon, currant,and corn.
She began studies and friendships with Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, and Eliot O'Hara. During this time, she completed a series of four watercolors about the Citrus Industry in Riverside. These paintings were exhibited throughout the United States, won numerous awards, and are currently in the permanent collection at the University of California at Riverside.
In the 1940s she moved to Mill Valley, California just north of San Francisco. An ardent nature lover, Elsie traveled throughout the state capturing the
"California Scene." Her subjects include everything from Death Valley, the Missions, and coastal scenes to San Francisco cityscapes. She maintained her close ties with other California Scene Painters such as Millard Sheets, Rex Brandt, Milford Zornes, Emil Kosa and Phil Paradise. Even in her early 80s she was painting and traveling with Millard Sheets to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Elsie died in 1971 leaving behind hundreds of watercolors, oils, and drawings.
Although not as well known as her male contemporaries, her work beautifully exemplifies the California Scene movement from the 1920s-50s. Her primary mediums were watercolor and oil, but she also did drawing and used tempera.
Special Awards and Exhibitions include: "Two Hundred American Watercolors," National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1941; 1st Watercolor PrizeButler Art Institute, Ohio 1942; Honorable Mention California Watercolor Society, Los Angeles Museum of Art, 1939; International Exhibition of WatercolorsArt Institute of Chicago, 1938 & 1939; Honorable Mention San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco Museum of Art, 1966, Catalog of The Art Bank 1958, Catalog of The Art Bank 1964-66