William Lees Judson Furniture

William Lees Judson was a pioneering California Impressionist artist of many talents. With his three sons, he founded the Judson Stained Glass Studios in 1897, which are still in operation in Los Angeles. He was founding Dean of the USC Roski School of Fine Arts and an important mentor to many local artists; he also served as the president of the Arroyo Guild of Craftsmen. Born in England, Judson was trained in Paris at the Académie Julian under leading French academics, including Adolphe Bouguereau. He was a Civil War veteran and came to California in 1893 from Chicago to improve his health in the mild climate. He was one of the originators of the Arts and Crafts movement in Pasadena, and as a painter, he immersed himself in the beauty of the California landscape, producing many shimmering canvases of favorite Plein Air haunts, including the Arroyo Seco, the local missions, Laguna, San Pedro, Santa Catalina and La Jolla. He even located the first campus of the USC Roski School of Fine Arts out on the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza (now Highland Park) because of the burgeoning art community attracted by the landscape. He reportedly lost many of his paintings in a fire at the USC campus in 1910, but recovered and continued to paint steadily. For all his local influence, a century later, it is a rare treat to view his luminous paintings of the California landscape in a small but rich exhibition culled from the collection of his great-grandson, H. Douglas Judson.