Marie DuBarry-Pomegranates and Wine Bottle

Marie DuBarry (1897-1990)

Marie DuBarry was born on May 30, 1897 in Denver, Colorado. She spent her childhood with foster parents, growing up on an Idaho ranch. She started drawing at age 3 and was expecially interested in depicting wild horses. By age 11, she was sure that she wanted a career as an artist. Still in highschool, DuBarry left home and moved to San Diego, California. She worked to support herself and graduated from San Diego High School. She won three scholarships to the local Academy of Fine Arts, where she received instruction from Otto Schneider. She also studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. DuBarry was given her first one-woman show in 1937 at Balboa Park. In 1940, the Hotel del Coronado held an exhibit for her, and in 1942 she exhibited with Maurice Braun at Orr Gallery, San Diego. She showed her first impressionistic landscape in 1945 at the La Jolla Art Center Annual Exhibit. By 1946, she was exhibiting in galleries in San Diego, Laguna Beach, Pasadena, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City. She exhibited animal portraits, plein-air landscapes and seascapes. She was known for her etchings, oils and watercolors. After her death two retrospective exhibitions were held in San Diego, displaying her plein-air paintings of San Diego County in the 1930s and 1940s.

Exhibited: Hotel del Coronado, 1940; San Diego FA Gallery, 1943: Pasadena Art Institute, 1946; Laguna Beach Art Association, 1946; New York Graphic Society; UC San Diego, 1989 (retrospective) l The First Street Gallery, Encinitas, 1991 (retrospective).