Helen Forbes

Helen Katharine Forbes (February 3, 1891 – May 27, 1945) was a Californian artist and arts educator specializing in etching, murals and painting. She is best known for western landscapes, portrait paintings, and her murals with the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and Work Progress Administration (WPA). Forbes was skilled in painting in oil, watercolor, and egg tempera. She painted landscapes of Mexico, Mono Lake and the Sierras in the 1920s, desert scenes of Death Valley in the 1930s, and portraits and still-lifes.thumb Hillside, North Beach, (c. before 1945), watercolor on paper

Early life Helen Katharine Forbes was born February 3, 1891, in San Francisco, California, to Stanley Forbes and Kate Skells. At age 12, she moved to Palo Alto, California, with her family and attended Castilleja School for Girls, from which she graduated in 1908. Her painting, Piute Indian was purchased by Mills College. The four murals depict a Noah's Ark-theme with animals and were funded by Federal Art Project (FAP) and Works Progress Administration (WPA). From 1978 until 2002 the Mother's Building served as a gift shop for the zoo, the mural is now in need of restoration and the room is only used for special events.

Forbes completed a mural at the Susanville, California, post office in 1939 depicting deer. The mural was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

She was commissioned to paint two murals at Monrovia Public Library in Monrovia, California, which was completed in 1940. The mural depicts a grizzly bear and four cubs, painted in egg tempera. The murals hung in the lobby of the post office from 1945 until 1964, then during a remodeling project were taken down. After being stored in the basement of the building, an effort was made to find the mural and eventually restore the one mural that was found. The restoration was completed and the one mural was re-hung in the same post office by 2009. The second mural, depicting the mother grizzly bear is still missing.

Helen Katharine Forbes died at age 54 in San Francisco, California on May 27, 1945.

In 1931, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor held an artist retrospective for Forbes.