Lucia Kleinhans Mathews and husband Arthur were among the most prominent and influential artists active in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1890s through the 1920s. However, it was not until the national tour of the exhibition “Mathews: Masterpieces of the California Decorative Style” in 1973 that the representative works of both artists had been seen beyond their home state of California in over fifty years.

The American Arts and Crafts movement had an extensive influence upon creative expression in California. It was in California that one of the fullest expressions of the ideals conveyed by William Morris and the British Arts and Crafts movement took hold. The California Decorative Style of the Mathews’ work embraces an additional element to their work, a distinctive regional sense of place: the California landscape and indigenous colors and informal lifestyle produced an elegant style that is uniquely Mathews.

Source: Mathews Masterpieces of the California Decorative Style, by Harvey L. Jones, 1985