Ethel Sharp (1913 – 1996)

Prism, c. 1950s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 20 x 24 inches, titled and dimensions indicated on tacking margin, presented in a newer frame

$3,750

Ethel Sharp was a California-based painter and ceramicist.  A native of Illinois, Sharp began her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, before relocating to Southern California in the late 1930s. She continued her studies in Los Angeles at the Chouinard Art Institute and at Marymount College with Pauline Khuri-Majoli, but her most important artistic mentor was Stanton MacDonald-Wright, who led a private art group which met weekly. Not only did MacDonald-Wright help shape Sharp’s practice, but he was an active leader of the Los Angeles Art Association and selected Sharp’s paintings for inclusion in the Artists You Should Know exhibitions which were a feature of the 1940s and 1950s art scene in Los Angeles. In addition to the Los Angeles Art Association, Sharp exhibited with the Chicago Art Association. During the late 1950s, she worked as an artist for Ro Shep Ceramic Artware, a Southern California art pottery. Later in the early 1960s, Sharp opened her own studio and gallery in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles called Mosaic Arts & Crafts. Throughout her long tenure in Los Angeles, Sharp consistently worked as a professional artist and craftsperson. Her oeuvre consisted of landscapes, still lifes, nudes, and Synchromist paintings, such as the present work. She is listed in Edan Hughes' Artists in California 1786 – 1940 and Maureen St. Gaudens' Emerging from the Shadows A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860 – 1960.