Cornelis Botke was primarily a landscape painter but was also known as a skilled etcher and block-printer. He was born in Leewarden, Holland in 1887 and studied there at the School of Applied Design in Haarlem.

In 1906 he moved to the United States and settled in Chicago, where he became an architectural draftsman at the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, Botke met and married Jessie Arms, also a painter and muralist.

In 1919, the two of them moved to Carmel, California, where Cornelis took a teaching position at Carmel Arts and Crafts. Together the couple worked as artists doing major commissioned pieces as well as personal works. In 1927 they bought a ranch in Southern California near Santa Paula where they remained.

Cornelis exhibited throughout his career at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938 and 1939 and also at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916, 1918, 1921, 1930.

His work is in the Kellogg factory in Battle Creek, Michigan and the Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago.

In 1954 Cornelis Botke died in Santa Paula, California.

Source:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940

Cornelis Botke was born in Leewarden, Holland in 1887. He studied at the School of Applied Design in Haarlem before emigrating the United States in 1906, settling in Chicago. There, he married Jesse Arms, a painter and muralist.

In 1919 Cornelis Botke and Jesse moved to Carmel, CA, where Cornelis taught at Carmel Arts and Crafts. From there they moved to Santa Paula, where they had a studio big enough to share. They were often commissioned together for very large works, usually murals.

Cornelis Botke was predominantly a landscape painter in his singular work, and his pieces were displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. Surviving murals of Botke's also exist in the Kellogg factory in Battle Creek, Michigan and the Ida Noyes Hall at the University of Chicago.

Born in Holland, Cornelis Botke studied at the Haarlem School for Applied Design before immigrating to the U.S. in 1906. He settled in Chicago where he maintained a studio and continued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he met his future wife, the art student Jessie Arms, with whom he would collaborate on a number of mural projects throughout his career.

In 1919, the Botkes moved to Carmel, California, and Cornelius taught at Carmel Arts and Crafts. Following a tour through Europe, the couple ultimately settled on a ranch in Santa Paula, California, where they built a studio they could share.

This well-known local landscape painter, etcher and printmaker immigrated to Chicago in 1906. He had been a student at the Dutch school for Applied Design in Harlem, and continued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago.

He and his wife, the artist Jessie Arms Botke, moved to Santa Paula, California in 1927. They became actively involved in the art world as members of the California Art Club, the California Society of Etchers, and the Foundation of Western Art among other organizations. The late Cornelis Botke received numerous prizes and honors for his work, and many pieces are now in the permanent collections of national public institutions.