Robert Wood

Artist Biography

A painter of realistic landscapes reflecting a vanishing wilderness in America, Robert Wood is reportedly one of the most mass-produced artists in the United States. His painting became so popular he was unable to meet all of the demands, and many of his works were reproduced in lithographs and mass distributed as posters, prints, place mats, and wall murals by companies including Sears, Roebuck.

Robert Wood was born in Sandgate, Kent on the south coast of England near Dover, the son of W.L. Wood, a famous home and church painter who recognized and supported his son's talent. In fact, he forced his son to paint by keeping him inside to paint rather than playing with his friends, which may later have supported his success with art, prints and posters.

In 1928, in San Antonio, he gained a national reputation for his strong colored, dramatic art, prints and posters. In 1941 he went to California and painted numerous desert and mountain landscapes and coastal scenes. He lived in Carmel for seven years, and then moved to Woodstock, New York, but he soon returned to California, settling first in Laguna Beach, then San Diego, and finally in the High Sierras, where he and his wife built a home and studio near Bishop and lived until his death in 1979.

Robert Wood Art, Prints and Posters Collection