Clara Gardner Mairs (1878-1963)

Clara Gardner Mairs began her artistic studies in 1918 at the St. Paul Institute in Minnesota.  Born on January 5, 1878 in Hastings, Minnesota, she continued her studies by traveling to Europe in 1923.  There she studied at the Academie Julian in Paris and at Colorossi and the Montparnesse.  She returned to St. Paul in 1925 and continued to paint and exhibit in the Midwest.  She was active in the WPA throughout the 1930s and 40s.  Mairs died in St. Paul on May 24, 1963.

Information from Minnesota Impressionists, Rena Neumann Coen, 1996, Afton Historical Society Press