Jack Wisby 1869 - 1940

Mt. Tamalpais Marin County, California Oil on board, 9 x 12 $2,800

Jack Wisby was born in London in 1869. At age 23, he arrived in San Francisco with his fiancee, Mary Anne Fossey. He began his painting career without art training, and made many sketching trips to Yosemite. He lost many of his early works in the 1906 Quake, an event causing him to move across the Bay to Marin County. He lived in Inverness until 1912 when he built a new studio in Bolinas. He painted many rural Marin scenes, such as Lucas Valley, the San Geronimo Hills, and Mt. Tamalpais. In 1919, he moved to San Rafael where he remained until he died in 1940. He is best known for poetic oil paintings of Northern California. He exhibited with the Berkeley Art Association, the Torrence Gallery in San Anselmo, and his works reside in the Oakland Museum and the San Mateo County Historical Museum.

Source: AskArt: Artists in California 1786 - 1940, Edan Milton Hughes, 3d ed.; Marin Independent Journal, 10-15-1960; California Historical Society; Death record.