About Carl Oscar Borg

  • Biography

    Known for Southwest Indian portraits in various mediums including oil, watercolor, etchings, and woodblock, Carl Oscar Borg was born in Dais-Grinstad, Sweden.

    His family was poor, and he was largely self-taught. He showed early art talent, and as a child copied pictures from books. At age 15, he apprenticed to a house painter, and at age 20, moved to London and assisted portrait and marine artist George Johansen.

    In 1901, he arrived in San Francisco from Sweden, having jumped ship as a seaman on the "S.S. Arizonan." He walked the rail track to Los Angeles, and learned painting techniques from William Wendt, well-known landscape artist.

    Sponsored by Phoebe Hearst, mother of newspaper tycoon Wi...

    But wait, there's more...

    Displaying 1,744 of 29,844 characters.

    Subscriber Members, please Sign In for full artist biographies and all services.

    For non-paying users, good news! Full text bios for all artists are available every Friday.

    If you are not currently a member, please See Details about membership.

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at .

Share an image of the Artist: .