Tolles Chamberlin

Tolles Chamberlain was a muralist, easel painter, sculptor, and highly respected teacher, whose career started when he took drawing lessons as a teenager. His first job was making technical drawings and watercolor renderings for a landscape architect in New Rochelle, New York, followed by a draftsman position in the New York City architectural firm of William Wheeler Smith. During his years in New York, Chamberlain studied at the Art Students League. In 1908 Chamberlain won the competition for a three-year scholarship at the American Academy in Rome. Chamberlain later taught at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York. In 1921 he was invited to become a founding faculty member at the Chouinard Art Institute. Chamberlain also taught rendering at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, and later also taught at the Jepson Art Institute.

Chamberlain painted in oil and watercolor in a post-impressionist style that clearly showed his classical European training. He also made etchings and bronzes. His art includes a wide variety of subjects including landscapes, architecture, still life, and figures. Chamberlain executed several mural commissions including McKinley School in Pasadena, and architectural bronzes such as the lintel at Good Samaritan hospital in Los Angeles.