Arthur Beckwith was born in London, England on Jan. 24, 1860. Arthur was the son of noted watercolorist, Benjamin Beckwith. He studied art with his father and at South Kensington School in London before moving to San Francisco in 1884. For the next 20 years he painted prolifically and created a large body of work, most of which went up in flames in the 1906 disaster. Despondent over his loss, he stopped painting for several years. Settling into a home across the Golden Gate in Greenbrae, he commuted by ferry daily to his studio in San Francisco in the old "Monkey Block" (now the Transamerica Pyramid).

Beckwith died there on Sept. 2, 1930. His work includes still lifes, landscapes, and marine

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
American Art Annual 1919-30; California & Californians, v.3 (1932); SF Chronicle, 9-7-1930 (obit).

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