Mabel Alvarez - Still Life - Oil On Board c 1940s P2577

This very accomplished still life by a seminal figure in the burgeoning art world of California is a real treat for the eyes. The painting measures 14" x 10", and the frame, 14 3/8" x 18". Combining both modernism and realism, Mabel Alvarez became a well-known 20th century West Coast female artist of portraits, still lifes, and landscapes.She was born in Waialua, near the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii, and moved to California with her family who had made their fortune from buying and selling land in Honolulu.  She was the youngest of five children of Clementine Setza Alvarez and Dr. Luis Fernandez Alvarez, a government physician. Her father, a native of Spain and son of the business manager to the Spanish king's son, was providing medical care to Chinese and Japanese workers imported to Hawaii. He was later the personal physician to Queen Liluokalani and her husband. Mabel's mother was a great beauty from a prominent family of musicians in St. Paul, Minnesota, and her brother, Walter A