Fleischer Museum
American Collection of Impressionism
The California School

John Gamble was California's premier painter of wildflowers. His interest in wildflowers was not in the flowers themselves but rather in the colorful patterns they made upon the gentle rolling hills. The color of the orange-yellow poppies was so bold that some critics affectionately referred to his paintings as "Gamble's Prairie Fires." Poppies and Lupines (Santa Barbara), 18" x 24" O/C Born in New Jersey, Gamble grew up in New Zealand and came to study art in San Francisco in 1883. In 1890, he embarked for Paris to study at the Academie Julian and the Academie Colarossi, and in 1893, came back to San Francisco to open his studio as a professional artist. He quickly developed a reputation as a painter of wildflowers by following a yearly routine of travelling up and down California to portray the springtime spectacle. The long list of flowers that appear in his paintings include the California poppy, blue and yellow lupines, sage, wild lilacs, wild buckwheat, desert verbena, blue and white everlasting and owl's clover. The San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906, nearly ruined Gamble. His studio and its entire contents were destroyed in the ensuing fire. Soon thereafter, Gamble left San Francisco to live in Los Angeles, at the urging of his close friend Elmer Wachtel. On his way to Los Angeles he passed through Santa Barbara and immediately fell in love with the small coastal community. He altered his plans and took up residence in Santa Barbara where he lived and painted for the rest of his life.