An academy trained California painter of landscape, portrait, and still lifes, Clarence Hinkle experimented with a variety of styles and was part of a "Group of Eight" California artists who exhibited modernist work.

He was born in Auburn, California and grew up on a ranch near Sacramento. His first art instruction was at the nearby Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento, and then, as a young man, he moved to San Francisco where he enrolled at the Mark Hopkins Institute and studied under Arthur Mathews.

Later he was to study under John Twachtman at the Art Students League in New York City and then with William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy where he was exposed to American Impressionism as well as many other styles.
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