Douglas Shively (1896-1991)

“Morro Bay”

1976
Oil on Masonite

20” H x 24” W (image size)
37” H x 31” W (frame size)

Signed lower left: Douglas Shively

Estimated value: $2,250 - $3,250

Artist Biography

Here at the Santa Paula Art Museum, we consider Douglas Shively (1896-1991) to be the founder of Santa Paula’s fine art scene and the most ardent and earnest promoter this city has ever known. Born in Santa Paula in 1896, Shively attended local elementary and high schools. He enrolled in Occidental College for a time before being drafted into the Army during WWI. After the war, Shively returned home and finished his education at USC, started a family, and eventually went into the banking business with his father.

Shively took up painting as a hobby around 1923 and asked his artist neighbor, Robert Clunie, to introduce him to a group of Glendale artists who were regularly making weekend trips to Santa Paula to paint. The group included artists John Cotton, Ralph Holmes, George Demont Otis, F. Grayson Sayre, Paul Sample, and Nell Walker Warner (all of whom are well-documented in California art history). Their influence, as well as his becoming acquainted with fellow Santa Paula artists Jessie Arms Botke and Cornelis Botke, inspired Shively to establish the annual Santa Paula Art Show in 1937.

Under Shively’s leadership, the Santa Paula Chamber of Commerce offered purchase prizes to the best oil painting and the best watercolor painting in each year’s show through the early 1980s. The City of Santa Paula, the Blanchard Library, and the Santa Paula Unified School District retain ownership of the nearly 300 paintings that were purchased over the course of four decades, forming a historic art collection that is shared by our entire community.

Well-loved and remembered in his hometown, Shively's paintings hang in almost every old, family home in the area, as well as the Santa Paula Art Museum's permanent collection.

Auction Information

The 13th Annual Fine Art Auction Fundraiser
Saturday, August 19, 2023
The silent auction starts at 3:00 PM.
The live auction starts at 4:00 PM.
Auction admission: $15.00 SPAM members, $20.00 Non-members

All proceeds benefit the Santa Paula Art Museum, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization #2478728.

All major credit cards, check, and cash are accepted.
Sales tax will be applied to all hammer prices. There is no buyer’s premium.

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