Original essay Artists in Santa Catalina Island Before 1945 by Jean Stern originally published in the illustrated book titled Enchanted Isle: A History of Plein Air Painting in Santa Catalina Island.
Along with the tourists came artists, the most prominent of which was Frenchman Ernest Narjot. One of the most remarkable and interesting of California's early artists, Ernest Etienne Narjot was born in St. Malo, Brittany, France. He was the son of a modest clerk, although his family had once been part of the nobility, as is reflected by his birth name, Ernest Etienne Narjot de Franceville. A talented young artist, he caught gold fever in 1849, and at the age of 23 left France for California.
Although he participated in the Gold Rush and tried his hand at mining at Foster's Bar, near Downieville, Narjot barely made enough to support himself. Furthermore, he was adversely affected by the effort to limit the number of foreigners working claims in the gold fields, formalized when California passed the Foreign Miners License Law of 1850. This discriminatory law, which was actually aimed at the large number of Mexican miners who had been among the first to arrive, required a payment of $20 per month to operate a claim. Narjot joined a group of other disgruntled French miners who went to Sonora, Mexico, which at the time was ruled by the French Emperor Maximilian. There, they started a colony and seized the gold mines that were operated by the local Apache Indians. In Mexico, Narjot bought a ranch and married Santos Ortiz in 1860. He spent time painting historical scenes and desert landscapes of the border between Arizona and northern Mexico.
On May 5, 1867, the Mexican people overthrew and executed Emperor Maximilian, and the majority of French settlers in Mexico fled for their lives. Narjot and his wife returned to San Francisco, where he opened a studio at 621 Clay Street. There, he painted commissioned portraits and landscapes, as well as book and newspaper illustrations. A major achievement in his career was the commission to decorate the ceiling of Leland Stanford's tomb. While working on this project, he accidentally splashed paint in his eyes, which led to partial blindness in one of them.
Through the 1880s, Narjot established himself as one of California's great painters with a superb series of paintings showing everyday life during the Gold Rush, a subject he knew from first-hand experience. In 1885, he began teaching at the California School of Design, leading the male life study class. Narjot traveled throughout California, painting in such diverse places as Marin and Sonoma counties, New Almaden, Palo Alto, and Santa Monica. He was one of the first professional artists to visit and paint in Santa Catalina Island.
By 1894, Narjot's blindness was complete in one eye and he could barely see through the other. Unable to paint and support his family, he began to suffer from severe financial troubles. Wishing to aid Narjot, a group of 30 prominent California artists, including William Keith, Thomas Hill, and Arthur Mathews, held a benefit sale of their own work to support him and his family. Narjot died in San Francisco on August 24, 1898. Unfortunately, the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed many of his works, which had been hanging in various collections and private homes.
Original essay Artists in Santa Catalina Island Before 1945 by Jean Stern originally published in the illustrated book titled Enchanted Isle: A History of Plein Air Painting in Santa Catalina Island.