Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes. James Guilford Swinnerton (1875-1974) was an American cartoonist and landscape painter of Southwest deserts. While still a teenager, he began his career as a staff cartoonist at William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Examiner. After having been diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1906, Swinnerton moved to Colton in Riverside County. He ended up staying in Southern California and eventually keeping a home there and another in Arizona; in the early 1940s, he lived at 1261 North Laurel Avenue in Los Angeles. From about 1920 to 1965, he painted desert scenes and kept a studio in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, where he died at age 98. Photograph caption dated September 4, 1940 reads, "James Swinnerton, who went to the desert 50 years ago to die but found life and beauty instead, is shown beside on of the most majestic of his new paintings in his current show at the Biltmore salon. The work is of the Grand Canyon, painted from the south rim."
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Swinnerton, Jimmy,--1875-1974 Millennium Biltmore Hotel (Los Angeles, Calif.) Artists--United States Cartoonists--United States Deserts in art Hotels--California--Los Angeles Art--California--Los Angeles--Exhibitions Pipe smokers--California--Los Angeles Landscape paintings Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
