MILFORD ZORNES BIOGRAPHY
A prominent artist in the watercolor movement known as California Style, Milford Zornes became especially known of his application of watercolor in broad brush strokes to large sheets of paper with planned areas of white, unpainted spaces showing through. This was a new way of watercolor painting, which traditionally has been done over pencil sketches.
He was born in Camargo, Oklahoma, and moved to Los Angeles while a teenager, and then became a merchant seaman, a job that took him to Denmark from which he toured Europe. He returned to Los Angeles and studied at the Otis Art Institute and Pomona College where Millard Sheets was his teacher.
Zornes did murals during World War II for the Federal Arts Project of the W.P.A. and was a United States Army artist correspondent in Burma and India. He taught at Otis Art Institute, Pomona College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Pasadena School of Fine Arts. He also conducted numerous watercolor workshops and authored books on watercolor technique.
In 1963, Milford and his wife, Pat Zornes, bought a home and studio from Edith Hamlin, wife of artist Maynard Dixon, to have a place for regular watercolor workshops. Zornes has also taught watercolor workshops all over the world including in China, Alaska, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Hawaii.
Paintings by Milford Zornes are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Butler Institute of Art, National Academy of Design, San Diego Museum of Art, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, U.S. War Department Collection and Library of Congress Collection. Zornes has been an active member of the National Academy of Design (A.N.A.), American Watercolor Society (past president) and West Coast Watercolor Society.
View artwork by Milford Zornes
