Antique American California Impressionist Oil Canvas Painting St. Ives Cornwall by Anna Althea Hills, 1910

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An important oil on canvas painting by the California impressionist painter Anna Althea Hills (1882-1930), a village scene view from … Read more An important oil on canvas painting by the California impressionist painter Anna Althea Hills (1882-1930), a village scene view from "Inn Cottage", St. Ives Cornwall, signed and dated 1910.

Anna Althea Hills spent four years travelling and painting in Europe, from 1909-1911 she resided in England in the artist's colony of St. Ives, Cornwall and studied landscape painting under the celebrated landscape artist John Noble Barlow and also painted with Samuel Lamorna Birch.
This is a view from "Inn Cottage" where the artist resided for two years, it depicts the narrow cobbled street with stone built cottages to either side, the sun shines on one row of cottages and the row on the opposite side is in shadow. There is laundry hanging out to dry in the alleyway, which also is partly in sunshine and partly in shadow. The painting is signed and dated lower right " A. A. Hills 1910 ", it is a very beautiful painting which displays the artist's formative style of the use of the palette knife, and a reserved impasto application of paint.
The painting is in excellent condition, it is housed in the original Arts & Crafts carved and gilded wooden frame. Paintings from her English period are scare compared to her California works. They are key for collectors because these works show the foundational training that allowed her to become a leader of the California Impressionist movement.
This lovely painting is ready to hang on your wall and grace your space.

Artist Biography:
Anna Althea Hills (January 28, 1882 – June 13, 1930) was an American plein air painter who specialized in impressionist landscapes of the Southern California coast.
Hills attended Olivet College, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. After her schooling, she worked for Arthur Wesley Dow. Hills traveled in Holland and England, attended the Académie Julian and spent four years traveling through Holland, Belgium, and Italy, and whilst in England she studied under the prominent British landscape artist John Noble Barlow in the St. Ives art colony in Cornwall.
She spent time in Lamorna Cove, home to many artists in the turn of the 20th century from 1908-1912, including Samuel Lamorna Birch, and was with her brother and sister, Willie and Nellie Hills, residing at Inn cottage in the 1911 England Census. After returning to the United States, Hills traveled to the west coast and she switched from interior figures to impressionist landscapes. Hills settled in Laguna Beach, California where she opened a studio and taught.
Besides her painting, Hills was known for community activism. She was involved with the Presbyterian church and ran the Sunday school. For six years, she was president of the Laguna Beach Art Association (founded in 1918). As president, it was Hills' strong advocacy that led to founding the Laguna Beach Art Museum in California in 1929. In addition, Hills urged her friend, the respected artist and critic Jennie V. Cannon, to create at her summer home in Carmel-by-the-Sea a similar organization and art gallery, which was eventually founded in 1927 as the Carmel Art Association and adopted verbatim the Laguna Beach maxim: “To advance the knowledge of and interest in art; to create a spirit of co-operation and fellowship between painter and public. See less