The main entrances of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition were positioned at the north and south ends of the complex, which was enclosed in a one square mile site alongside the San Francisco Bay. Here, Mathews, in her signature Tonalist fashion, sketches one of the north entrances in saturated gouache, capturing the massive archway aglow in the golden evening sunlight.

Mathews was a major fixture of the early Arts and Crafts scene in San Francisco, and was an influential figure among her peers as well as the San Francisco municipality, which hired her as an advisor for the design of Golden Gate Park. A prolific artist and crafts-person, she designed and carved furniture, objets d’art, and painted murals, all in addition to her fine art paintings in oil, watercolor, and gouache. Along with her artist husband Arthur Frank Mathews, she paved a path toward San Francisco’s aesthetic recovery following the 1906 earthquake. Arthur’s own design aesthetic was called upon for the style and decor of the 1915 Panama Pacfic Exposition.