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WILLIAM F. JACKSON Biography

Landscape painter. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1850.  At age 12 Jackson crossed the plains with his parents in a covered wagon and settled in Sacramento.  He received his early education in the public schools there, and then studied art at the School of Design in San Francisco under Virgil Williams and Benoni Irwin.  Upon returning to Sacramento in 1880, he opened a studio and made many painting trips along the American River and around Donner Lake, often accompanied by his close friend William Keith.  When the Crocker family deeded their art gallery to the city of Sacramento in 1884, Jackson became the curator and director of their newly founded art school.  He continued working at the gallery until his death on Jan. 9, 1936.  A plein air painter, his landscapes often include rolling fields of poppies and lupine.

Member:  Sacramento Board of Education; Art Commission of Panama Pacific International Exposition, 1915.

Exhibited: California State Fair, 1880 1901 (gold medal).  Sara Louise Faustman, researcher; Brother Cornelius; Artists of the American West; Sacramento Bee, 1-9-1936 (obit) and 12-23-1939.