Biography provided courtesy of “California Watercolors 1850-1970” By Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last.

OTHELLO MICHETTI (1895-1981)...Born: Allano, Abruzzi, Italy.

Studied: Art Students League (New York), Academy of Art (New York), Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (San Francisco).

Member: Society of Western Artists.

Othello Michetti came to America with his family when he was ten and settled in New York. He studied art with Frank Vincent DuMond and George Bridgman at the Art Students League and went on to attend the Academy of Art. When he was twenty-one, he moved to San Francisco where he continued his art education and began painting regularly with watercolors.

Michetti actively exhibited his watercolors on the West Coast for over fifty years and was a director of the Society of Western Artists from the time of its formation, Between 1921 and the early 1970s, he was the art director of a major San Francisco commercial lithographic firm. He was considered an authority on color design for commercial uses, gave lectures on the subject, and wrote a trade booklet, Color Harmony, which explained his theories.

Biographical information: Interview with Louise Michetti, 1983.