WILLIAM SWIFT DANIELL (1865-1933)

William Swift Daniell was born in San Francisco, California on April 26, 1865. At age 15 he visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston where he first viewed art. A fellow visitor asked to borrow his catalog, a conversation ensued, and the teenager found himself accompanying the sculptor O. D. Morse back to his studio to see his work. Daniell began his art studies under Morse and, while in Boston, studied painting with Helen M. Knowlton. He then spent three years in Paris at Académies Vitti, Delecluse, and Julian. While in Europe, he sketched in Venice, England, and Moret, France. In 1905 he moved to Los Angeles and established a home base but appears to have been constantly on the move. In 1906 he was in Laguna Beach and during 1907-09 he was in New York City, New Orleans, and the Berkshire Hills. In 1911 he opened the Daniell Gallery in Los Angeles which handled the work of other California artists as well as his own. He continued to paint and exhibit in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach until about 1923. William Swift Daniell died of pneumonia in Los Angeles on June 28, 1933. Working in oil and watercolor, his landscapes are unpretentious records and uncloaked by any overriding style.

William Swift Daniell biography courtesy of Edan Hughes.