'Still Life of Fruit' by Donald Bear, Denver Art Museum, Works Progress Administration, Santa Barbara Museum, Who Was Who

Description

Signed, faintly, lower left, 'Donald Bear' (American, 1905-1952) and painted circa 1945.

A dynamic, modernist still-life of fruit in gouache, … more Signed, faintly, lower left, 'Donald Bear' (American, 1905-1952) and painted circa 1945.

A dynamic, modernist still-life of fruit in gouache, watercolor, crayon and india-ink.

Donald Jeffries Bear was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and grew up in Denver. He first attended Denver's Art Academy and, later in life, became director of the Denver Art Museum (1930-35). During the 1930s, he was also regional advisor for the Federal Art Project and was a primary art research contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. In 1940, Bear settled in Santa Barbara where he worked as an art critic for the News Press, a teacher at UC Santa Barbara and the first director of the Santa Barbara Museum.

Reference:
Artists in California 1786-1940, Third Edition, Edan Milton Hughes: Crocker Art Museum, Sheridan Books 2002, Vol. 1, page 84; Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 1, page 247; et al. less