Agnes Pelton was born on August 22, 1881, in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, to American parents, William Halsey Pelton and Florence Pelton. Her maternal grandfather was American abolitionist Theodore Tilton and her paternal grandfather was a plantation owner in Louisiana. Agnes lived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 1882 to 1884 and in Basel, Switzerland from 1884 to 1888. Then she relocated to Brooklyn after her father’s death in 1890.
Agnes studied at the Pratt Institute from 1895 to 1900, and privately with Arthur Wesley Dow in 1900. She took summer classes from William Langson Lathrop in 1907. She studied in Italy in 1910 and 1911, taking life drawing lessons at the British Academy in Rome, and also studied with Hamilton Easter Field.
Pelton's work was exhibited in Ogunquit, Maine at Field's studio in 1912. Walt Kuhn invited Agnes to participate in the 1913 Armory Show, where two of her paintings were exhibited, which was the start of her artistic career. In 1919, she visited Pueblo Indians in the American southwest, where she painted portraits and desert landscapes. She painted in oil and used pastels to create realistic portraits and desert landscapes and her works were exhibited in Santa Fe at the School of American Research. She moved to Long Island and lived in a Hayground windmill that had been converted to a house. She painted portraits and still lifes in Hawaii in 1923 and 1924. Agnes created abstract works of art beginning 1926, which were exhibited in New York at the Argent Galleries and the Museum of New Mexico. By 1926, she had exhibited in 20 group exhibitions and 14 solo exhibitions. She settled in Cathedral City, California in 1932, and resided there until her death in 1961.
Pelton recorded her spiritual and philosophical thoughts, had an "intense interest" in Agni Yoga, which influenced her work.
In 1938, she was a co-founder, first president, and the oldest member of the Transcendental Painting Group.
Quotes from others about the person
Pelton's works were poetic celebrations of nature that explored the vital forces animating the physical world. Interested in themes of creation, growth, and radiance, Pelton translated favorite subjects — a glowing star, an opening flower — into life-affirming images of rare beauty and resonance. In many ways, her paintings resemble the art of her contemporary Georgia O'Keeffe, only more colorful, more spiritual, and more imaginative.
