Grace Russell Fountain was born in 1858 in Yreka, California, near Mt. Shasta, and grew up in Ashland, Oregon. In 1878, she married James Fountain and began painting just a few years later, eventually dedicating her life to art.

Grace established herself in Portland in the 1890s, where she taught painting to small groups of women and illustrated Joaquin Miller’s Sea of Silence for Sunset Magazine in 1904. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, she and her family relocated to Oakland, California, joining a vibrant community of artists in the Oakland Hills and remaining lifelong friends of Joaquin Miller.

In 1931, her Sunrise, Grand Canyon was shown at the California Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Fountain became known for her large, dramatic oil landscapes of the American West—Crater Lake, the Grand Canyon, and Mt. Shasta among her most iconic subjects. Her Crater Lake was owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad and exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Gallery.

She continued painting into her seventies and passed away in Oakland in 1942. Today, her work remains in demand, with dozens of her paintings sold through Portland galleries and auctions in recent years.

Grace’s sister, Mabel, also a landscape painter, remained in Ashland. The two stayed closely connected throughout their lives.

Source: “Grace Russell Fountain: Her Life & Art, 1858–1942” by Gail Evans-Hatch (2013)