Meta Cressey , one of the earliest Modernist artists in Los Angeles, painted in a colorful and decorative style. She was born Meta Gehring on May 3, 1882 in Cleveland, Ohio. Upon the death of her father, she and the other members of her wealth family shared a generous trust fund.

She studied art at the Cleveland School of Art and in New York with William Merrit Chase and Frank Dumond. She was a proficient sketcher and pursued ceramic decoration, excelling in flower painting on porcelain.

In 1911, she enrolled at the National academy School in New York and took classes with Robert Henri. There she met Bert Cressey (1883-1944), and art student who had been born and raised in Los Angeles. In the summer of 1912, Bert and Meta accompanied Henri on a painting trip to Spain. After five months in Spain, the party disbanded in Paris. Meta returned to New York, but Bert stayed in Paris, sharing a studio with Thomas Skinner, another student from Henri's class. The following year, Bert returned to the United States and joined Meta and her family I Cleveland, where the couple was married on May 19, 1913.

The young couple returned to Bert's home in Compton and built a studio-home on five acres of the family farm. In 1916 Meta and Bert were among the small group of Modernist artists who founded the Los Angeles Modern Art Society. The group also included Helena Dunlap (1876-1955). Edgar Keller (1868-1932), Henrietta Shore (1880-1963) and Karl Yens (1868-1945). The society held non-juried invitational shows, featuring modern works by local as well as foreign artists.

Meta Cressey was a member and frequent exhibitor at the California Art Club. In 1927, she showed Under the Pepper Tree ant the Painters and Sculptors Annual Exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. Cressey died in Los Angeles on May 4, 1964.