Painter. Born in San Francisco, CA on October 3, 1869. Twelve of his British forebears were artists. Continuing the family tradition, Percy Gray studied locally at the School of Design under Emil Carlsen. This was followed by work as a quick sketch artist for the San Francisco Call. In 1895 he moved to NYC where he spent 11 years working as head of the art department for W.R. Hearst’s New York Journal. While in NYC he studied at the Art Students League and with William M. Chase.

Gray returned to San Francisco in 1906 and joined the art department of the Examiner where he remained until almost 1920. By that time he was able to establish himself as a professional landscape painter. From 19906 he lived with his family in Alameda, then in Burlingame. From 1918-23 he maintained a studio in San Francisco’s old Montgomery Block which also served as his living quarters. About 1910 he began signing his paintings in script instead of the block letters he had used since student days. In that year he began showing his watercolors at the Golden Gate Park Memorial Museum and the Del Monte Art Gallery in Monterey. In 1923 Gray married and settled in Monterey where the newlyweds purchased for their home and had rebuilt on another site, the historic Casa Bonifacio. Built in 1835, it was also known as the Sherman Rose House, locale of the legendary romance of Senorita Maria Bonifacio and William T. Sherman, the a young army lieutenant, who was later to win fame as a Civil War general. A yellow rose bush which grew above the entrance arbor was planted by the young couple in 1850 to plight their troth. Brick by brick the Grays reassembled the adobe and transplanted the yellow rose which still grows. Working from his studio attached to the house, Gray attained total mastery of his watercolor technique during his Monterey years. In 1939 they sold the home and after two years in San Francisco settled in San Anselmo in Marin County.

After the death of his wife in 1951, the last year of Gray’s life was spent as a resident of the Bohemian Club in his native city. Although he executed oil paintings and a few etchings, he is best known for his atmospheric watercolors. His works most often depict the glades and valleys of Northern California, with slopes of poppies and lupine under oak and eucalyptus trees. In the teens and twenties, he also portrayed many views of the rocky California coast. On occasion, he depicted southwestern desert scenes, and some 20 portraits of American Indians represent the bulk of his portraiture.

Member : The Family, San Francisco; Bohemian Club; San Francisco Art Association; Sequoia Club; Carmel Art Association; Society of Western Artists.

Exhibited : Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 1915 (bronze medal); Arizona State Fair, 1915 (first prize).

Works held : National Museum of American Art; Oakland Museum; California Historical Society; Crocker Museum, Sacramento; Bohemian Club; Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; de Young Museum; Stanford Museum.

Sources : WW40; Hughes, Artists of California, 219; 300 Years of American Art, 624.