Carl Sammons (1883-1968)

Carl Sammons was born in Kearney, Nebraska, in 1883 and enjoyed his first art studies as a young man working as a sign painter in Sioux City, Iowa. It’s not clear when he moved to California, but it is believed to have been between 1913 and 1917, when he was living in Oakland. While in California Sammons studied at San Francisco’s School of Fine Art (now known as the San Francisco Art Institute). From his Oakland base, Sammons traveled the coast of California extensively, painting his representational landscapes and coastal scenes. Preferring smaller canvases, Sammons paintings are often limited in their color schemes. Sammons preferred not to exhibit his works in the traditional venues of the early California artists, choosing instead to sell and barter his works through a smaller network of friends and patrons. Carl Sammons died in Oakland, California in 1968 following a lengthy illness.