American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

The avian imagery of Jessie Arms Botke occupies a special place within the history of early California painting. Born in Chicago and trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, Botke’s subjects—and signature style—are a rich confluence of her education, extensive travels, and professional affiliations. Following a tour of France, Spain, and England in 1909, Botke settled in New York City, securing employment as a tapestry cartoonist and interior designer with Herter Looms. Her murals for the Hastings-on-Hudson home of actress Billie Burke (famous for her role as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz) and at San Francisco’s Hotel St. Francis cemented a career-long affection for birds. The former commission, boasting white peacock accents, was most instructive; Botke recalled her first encounter with the species as “love at first sight.”

Relocating to Carmel-by-the-Sea in 1919, and in 1929, to Santa Paula, Botke devoted over a half-century to celebrating California’s diverse bird life. She had a particular fondness for white birds—geese, heron, swans, and peacocks—often situating them within fanciful landscapes or before tapestry-like hedgerows. In the present work, the birds’ lithe bodies and downy coats are framed by blush-toned, trumpet-shaped datura. The background—a brilliant expanse of gold leaf—affords the work a decorative, ethereal quality. Flora intersects with lacy feathers, which cascade into the painting’s lower register. Its impressive scale is reminiscent of Botke’s early-career murals, as are the peacocks’ broadly legible forms. 

Botke’s attraction to peacocks transcended mere sentiment. Most compelling, for her, “was the pattern they made. [The] white peacock was so appealing because it was a simple, but beautiful white form to be silhouetted against dark background, and the texture and pattern of the tail broke the harshness of the white mass without losing the simplicity of the pattern.” White Peacocks and Datura, an exemplar of the artist’s decorative, yet virtuoso mature style, offers collectors beauty and simplicity in equal measure.