Clarence K. Hinkle

Clarence Keiser Hinkle (June 19, 1880–July 21, 1960), was an American painter and art educator. His art studio was in Laguna Beach, California, and later in Santa Barbara, California. He was known for his still life and portrait paintings.

Early life and education Clarence Keiser Hinkle was born on June 19, 1880 in Auburn, California. At age 18 he studied at Crocker Art Gallery, under painter William Franklin Jackson. From 1904 until 1906, he studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Hinkle later taught painting and drawing at the Chouinard Art Institute, from 1921 until 1935. Hinkle had a wife, Mabel Bain and she had been a former student.

He had an art studio in Laguna Beach, California from 1922 to 1935, and he was a member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Hinkle opened another studio in Santa Barbara, California in 1935. He painted landscapes, still lifes and portraits.

Hinkle was a member of the Group of Eight, alongside artists Edouard Vysekal, Luvena Buchanan Vysekal, John Hubbard Rich, Henri De Kruif, Donna N. Schuster, E. Roscoe Shrader, and Mabel Alvarez. This Group of Eight was organized largely by Luvena Buchanan Vyeskal and Edouard Vyeskal, and the group had a basis in the progressive art movement in California.

Death and legacy He died on July 21, 1960, in Santa Barbara, at age 80.

His wife Mabel donated one of his paintings to the Smithsonian American Art Museum posthumously. More than a hundred of Hinkle's paintings were left by his estate to the University of Pacific, which were sold in 1986 to a single collector in Santa Barbara.

Exhibitions This is a select list of notable exhibitions that featured Hinkle.

Solo exhibitions

1960 – Clarence Hinkle: 1880-1960, solo exhibition, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California 1933–1934 – Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities, group exhibition, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, New York 1962 – Clarence Hinkle and William Rohrbach, group exhibition, Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, California 2004 – Laguna Beach: Our Town in the Early 1900s, group exhibition with Hinkle, William Wendt, Joseph Kleitsch, Edgar Alwin Payne, Anna Althea Hills, at Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California 2012 – Modern Spirit and the Group of Eight, group exhibition with Hinkle, Mabel Alvarez, Henri de Kruif, John Hubbard Rich, Donna N. Schuster, E. Roscoe Shrader, Edouard Vysekal, Luvena Buchanan Vysekal, at Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California