Artist Bio Template

Excerpted from the book by Alissa Anderson [Campbell] (Chronicle Books/Balcony Press), 2003

Nell Brooker Mayhew (1876-1940)

Nell Brooker Mayhew Recognized for her boldly colored "paintings on paper," Nell Brooker Mayhew (born with the name Nell Cole Danely) brought an innovative approach to painting and printmaking to Southern California in 1908. Having trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mayhew was fluent in the aesthetics of French Impressionism, Japanese woodblocks, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Symbolism. She combined these cutting edge ideas and won acclaim, showing along side such artists as William Wendt , Edgar Payne, and Hanson Puthuff. 

Mayhew was born in Astoria, Illinois in 1875, Mayhew trained as a painter and muralist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University. Taking only three years to graduate, she received a B.S. in 1897. Soon after, she began her post-graduate work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Moving to Los Angeles in 1908 as a single woman she became a faculty member at the University of Southern California's School of Fine Arts. Mayhew became a influential figure in California. Exhibiting alongside major local artists Hanson Puthuff, Elmer Wachtel, and Edgar Payne - she established herself in a circle of nationally renowned artists.

Heralded by Los Angeles art critics, Mayhew became recognized for her provocative use of color and unrefined lines. Critics were engaged by the vitality and life of her pieces -- whether it be the simplistic but vivacious lines of a tree or the delicate outline of a flower. With a distinctly lyrical quality, her 'paintings on paper' radiated a somewhat spiritual nature.

Heavily influenced by Japonisme - Mayhew was known to imitate the traditional Japanese columnar style. Printing her etchings on vertical paper, Mayhew depicts scenes of nature with high horizon lines- a style exemplary of the Japanese printmaking aesthetic.

Mayhew was much more experimental in her printmaking style. She embraced individual expression, reflection, and interpretation in each piece -- resisting the element of uniformity.

As a divorced, single mother working during the Depression, and a woman in an art world established by men, Nell Brooker Mayhew faced numerous difficulties. She somehow overcame such challenges, establishing herself as a remarkable artist of extraordinary character. She did not live the life of most women -- moving across the country to support herself as an artist. She became a faculty member at a prominent university, divorced her husband, and raised two children as a single parent. With her innovative color etching technique and extensive formal training, her work came to symbolize a specific period of artistic evolution in California. Mayhew became a progressive woman artist in the Los Angeles art community.

Mayhew's paintings on paper as they have been called, evoke a distinct luminosity. With her bold use of color and unrefined lines, critics were engaged by the vitality and life of her pieces. Mayhew's monotype etchings infuse the same luminosity revered by color-field painters thirty years later. Although a much more traditional subject matter and process than the Modernists would adopt, Mayhew's light and color achieve a visual effect glowing with color and effervescence. Her art captures the energy and swirling momentum of life.

Mayhew defied the artistic traditions around her -- advocating a new process of printmaking and a new style of painting. She embraced color, freedom of brushstroke, and above all, nature. Nell Brooker Mayhew embodied a bold and innovative approach to art -- challenging artistic practices of those around her.

Heavily influenced by the "art for arts sake" philosophy of John Ruskin and William Morris, Nell Brooker Mayhew is often associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Printmakers like Arthur Wesley Dow were concentrated on the necessity of handmade craftsmanship, simplistic decoration, and high quality materials. The movement insisted upon a correlation between beautiful objects and quality of life -- suggesting beauty could bring inspiration to anyone who encountered it.

Mayhew's process of color etchings was firmly rooted in such a philosophy. Each print represented the delicate abundance of beauty in a simple scene of nature. The artist would personally draw each image, hand etch the drawing, and then print and frame the final piece. She would often go so far as to personally install the art work in the collectors home. The Arts and Crafts idealist believed that the artist must be personally involved in every element of art production.

Many women artists of this period were known as printmakers. Artists like Bertha Lum, Lilian May Miller, and Helen Hyde were well known for their neatly rendered figurative images. But, these prints were often conventional reproductions -- lacking the variation or individual nuaces of Mayhew's color etchings. Helen Hyde, bronze medal winner at the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exhibition, was known for her circular prints depicting idyllic scenes. Each rendition remainded much the same in coloration and detail -- following the traditional Japanese woodblock philosophy.

Nell Brooker Mayhew was profoundly influenced by Japanese wood block prints. This influence can be seen in almost all of her color etchings and some of her paintings. In this circa 1925 photograph she wears an oriental dress and places herself in the setting fall sunlight which itself is reminicient of the pictorial school of Japanese photography. The artist was just over 5' tall and it is said that the wheel of her press would tower over her and that it took all her strength to make the impressions for her monotypes."

Copyright Alissa Anderson Campbell (Author) 2003