Arthur Frank Mathews (1860-1945) was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Trained as an architect and artist, he had a significant effect on the evolution of Californian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His students include Granville Redmond, Xavier Martinez, Armin Hansen, Percy Gray, Gottardo Piazzoni, Maynard Dixon and Francis McComas.

Early years

Mathews was born in Markesan, Wisconsin and lived there until he was six years old. His father was an architect and moved the family to San Francisco in the year 1866. Mathews learned architecture from his father; he then studied painting at the San Francisco School of Design, under the influence of Virgil Williams. In San Francisco he also worked as a design illustrator at a lithography shop. He studied art in Paris at the Academie Julian from 1884 to 1889, whence he returned to bring to San Francisco the color intensity of Paul Gaugin and the Tonalism of James Whistler.

Life in San Francisco

Upon his return from Paris, Mathews assumed the role of Director of the San Francisco School of design, where he served until the Great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following the earthquake, he and his artist wife Lucia opened the Mathews Furniture Shop in San Francisco. There he could unleash his combined skills as a craftsman, designer and painter. He was considered the most forceful element in the rebuilding of San Francisco's arts after the 1906 destruction, which effort culminated in the 1915 Pan American International Exposition. He eschewed the Impressionist style, but cultivated classical Tonalism and fostered Arts and crafts as a style. Sometimes his work is also referred to as Art Nouveau.

Some of the masterpiece works of Mathews are Spring Dance hung at the Smithsonian and Afternoon Among the Cypress in the permanent collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. A hallmark of Mathews' work is his allegorical paintings of female figures in classical attire, often using the bright colors of Gaugin.

His travels included Catalina Island, Carmel-by-the-Sea and Monterey. Principal media he used were oil painting, watercolor, pastels, gouache and fresco. In his decorative work, he and Lucia enjoyed painting on picture frames and other furniture. Excellent examples of his paintings within hand painted frames by the couple are in the Oakland Museum of California permanent gallery. He died in San Francisco.

Significant permanent collections

Mathews' work is hung in the following major galleries:

• Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
• Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum
• New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Oakland Museum of California
• San Diego Museum of Art
• Smithsonian American Art Museum