Otis Oldfield, painter, lithographer, and teacher, was born in Sacramento, California on July 3, 1890. He arrived in San Francisco in 1909 and enrolled in Best’s Art School. He worked and saved for two years and, in 1911, departed for Paris where he studied at the Académie Julian. While in Paris he exhibited in the Salon d'Automne and Salon des Indépendants.

Otis returned to the United States in 1924 and briefly resettled in the family home in Sacramento. The following year he rented a studio in San Francisco and joined the staff of the California School of Fine Arts. In 1934, he was among the artists selected to paint murals in San Francisco's Coit Tower. During World War II, Otis worked as a draftsman at Fort Mason Marine Repair, and then taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts. His students included Richard Diebenkorn and Nathan Oliveira.

His work is represented in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Otis Oldfield died in San Francisco on May 18, 1969.

Source: Edan Hughes