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Best, Harry

Last Name:	Best
First Name:	Harry
Dates:	1863 (Date of Birth) 1936 (Date of Death)
Biography/History:	Harry Best was a landscape painter who was born in Mt. Pleasanton, Canada in 1863. He and his brother were musicians and members of a band. In 1887, the band traveled west to Portland, Oregon where his first glimpse of Mt. Hood inspired him to paint. He began to paint as a self-taught artist and he later took lessons in San Francisco from Alfred Rodriguez. In 1891, he met cartoonist Homer Davenport in Oregon, and afterwards Best began submitting cartoons to the San Francisco newspapers. After selling a painting, he and his brother moved to San Francisco where he worked as a cartoonist for the San Francisco Post for five years, and organized a sketch club which was the foundation for his brother's art school. Harry was introduced to Yosemite while on a sketching trip in 1900 and vowed to live in the park. In 1901 he was married at the foot of Bridal Veil Falls and received permission to build a studio home there. He continued living in Yosemite the remainder of his life except during the coldest winter months when he was often in Santa Barbara and San Diego. He also made trips to Hawaii in 1916 and 1920. President Theodore Roosevelt acquired one of his landscapes in 1907 and by that time he was a financially successful artist. Best's studio is today known as the Ansel Adams Gallery. Best's daughter married Ansel Adams and runs the gallery today. While visiting his daughter in San Francisco, Best died of a heart attack on October 14, 1936. He was a member of the San Diego Fine Arts Society
Related Objects:	809.64 (Painting, Mt. Shasta, 19th century)