The unframed giclée measures 20″ x 24″ with a 1/4″ white border. It costs $450 with additional shipping costs based on location. It is a limited run series of only twenty prints of each style. The piece has an acid-free label on the backside with the art piece information including the series number.
Artist’s Biography:
Nellie Maud Gail was born on December 8, 1878 in Irving, Kansas. She was a Seattle area school teacher and daughter of John Gail, who later brought the family to southern California and became the manager of El Toro Mercantile Store and postmaster for the town of El Toro.
Lewis F. Moulton, fifty-four year old owner of Rancho Niguel, married twenty-nine year old Nellie Gail in 1908. They had two daughters, Charlotte and Louise. The Moultons established a lasting presence in Orange County with sheep and cattle ranching, and leasing land to tenant farmers, all of which were favorite subjects of California regional paintings.
Nellie Gail Moulton was a lifetime member of the Laguna Beach Art Association (Laguna Art Museum) and served as their president from 1948-49. Her en plein air techniques were acquired from Southern California notable artists such as William Wendt, Anna Hills, Frank Cuprien, and Edgar Payne. They inspired her impressionist scenes of nature, beach landscapes, Sierra mountains, Japanese fishing villages, and Grand Canyon majestic vistas. Her sketchbooks contain many preliminary drawings of evocative and nuanced oil paintings. As an avid traveler, Nellie Gail viewed the world through her international voyages and captured these moments in her artwork.
Nellie Gail Moulton represents an international movement. She captured and preserved pristine nature in real time, en plein air. Nellie belongs to a larger movement of female artists who have recently gained more recognition for their commitment to the arts. Her work is currently featured at Who Was Nellie Gail Moulton? retrospective exhibition at Casa Romantica. Nellie was featured at the Pasadena Museum of History in the Something Revealed; California Women Artists Emerge, 1860-1960 show curated by Maurine St. Gaudens Studios. Her philanthropy as a founding member of the Laguna College of Art & Design in 1961, the 1969 building of the Moulton Theatre for the Laguna Playhouse, and her generous endowment donation to Chapman University (which was then Chapman College), in 1973 bears fruit to this day.
