DeRome

Albert T.

DeRome was born in Cayucos, San Louis Obispo County, California on June 26, 1885.  In his youth DeRome worked at the Congress Spring Hotel in Saratoga, at the Palace Hotel and his uncle’s Globe Foundry in San Francisco.

He studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute under Mathews, Stanton and Latimer.  DeRome applied his art initially to political cartoons and commercial ventures.  His close friends and sketching partners included painters William Keith, Carlos Hittell (fellow Swedenborgians), Will Sparks, Frank Moore, Percy Gray and Gunnar Widforss.  From 1915-31 he made many painting expeditions to Nevada, Arizona and throughout California.

Following a serious auto accident in 1931, DeRome gradually recovered the ability to paint.  However, an insurance policy prevented him from selling his work or exhibiting as a professional artist.  He did exhibit as an “amateur” in Northern California, gaining recognition and several first prizes.  He often would give his paintings to friends and relatives in exchange for favors.  An impressionist, his work includes luminous landscapes, coastals, and seascapes in oil and watercolor.  DeRome spent his later years on the Monterey Peninsula in Pacific Grove. He died in Carmel on July 31, 1959.

(1885 - 1959)