Shirley Ximena Hopper Russell (May 16, 1886 – February 6, 1985), also known as Shirley Marie Russell, was an American artist best known for her paintings of Hawaii and her still lifes of Hawaiian flowers.

She was born Shirley Ximena Hopper in Del Rey, California, in 1886. She graduated in 1907 from Stanford University, where she discovered art. Shirley married Lawrence Russell, an engineer, in 1909. When he died in 1912, she began teaching in Palo Alto, and dabbling in painting.

In 1921, she and her son came to Hawaii for a visit and decided to stay. She studied under Hawaiian artist Lionel Walden during the 1920s and traveled to Europe several times to further her art education. She studied in Paris during the 1930s and the cubist influence can be seen in a number of her works. She taught art at President William McKinley High School in Honolulu for more than 20 years.

Around 1935-1936, the Japanese publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885–1962) published more than several woodblock prints she designed. The majority of these prints depict colorful and detailed tropical flowers, while at least one print, Carmel Mission, is a California landscape.

In the course of her art career, Russell had three one-woman exhibitions at the Honolulu Museum of Art, and taught art at the University of Hawaii and the Honolulu Museum of Art. She launched many young artists in their careers when they were her students at McKinley High School, including Satoru Abe (1926-) and John Chin Young (1909–1997).

Although she painted in representational style herself, she was a staunch supporter of abstract art, and did some abstract work herself throughout her career. She continued to paint almost daily until her death in Honolulu in 1985, at the age of 98.
The Hawaii State Art Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, Isaacs Art Center, and Tokyo National Museum are among the public collections holding works by Shirley Russell.

Source: Wikipedia (September 2021)

Submitted by: Andres Harnisch

Born in Del Rey, California on May 16, 1886. Shirley Hopper studied at Stanford University, California School of Fine Art, California College of Arts and Crafts, University of Hawaii, and in Paris.

In 1909 she married engineer Lawrence Russell and in the early 1920s settled in Honolulu. She was active there as an art teacher and painter until her demise on Feb. 6, 1985.

Her work includes floral still lifes and seascapes.

Member: Honolulu Art Association; Honolulu PM.

Exhibition: Paris Salon, 1927; Honolulu Academy of Art, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1943, 1945; Painters & Sculptors of LA, 1937; Oakland Art Gallery, 1943-45; CPLH, 1946.

In: Academy of Arts, Supreme Court, Moana Hotel, all in Honolulu.

Born in Del Rey, California, Shirley Russell, an impressionist landscape painter, studied art at Stanford University, the California School of Fine Art, the California School of Arts and Crafts, and Academie Julian in Paris, 1937 to 1938.

In 1921, she went to Hawaii and returned there in 1923 to settle permanently. She taught art in a Honolulu high school and painted regularly, doing scenes of urban and rural landscapes, often suggestive of human activity. She also painted portrait subjects.

She was a member of the Association of Honolulu artists and as a teacher was widely influential on a succeeding generation of local artists.