Janet King. Hibbs Boats, Bayboro Harbor, St. Petersburg, 1929. Oil on board, 15 and 7/8 by 19 7/8 inches.
Janet King was born in Regina, Canada; educated there, and in England. She came to St. Petersburg in 1915. King was head of the art department at St. Petersburg High School for twenty-two years, and one of the best known artists and teachers in the state of Florida. A charter member of the Art Club of St. Petersburg she exhibited her work at the 2nd Florida Federation of Art Annual Exhibit in 1919. King later served as president of both organizations. The St. Petersburg Times of April 13, 1930, contains a review of the Art Club’s April exhibit by Eve Alsman Fuller. “Janet King is also a true St. Petersburg artist, having made her home here for many years. Her training includes the best to be had in Canada and many centers in America, but the greater part of her painting has been done here at home. Although this year one must confess, the two outstanding picture in her group were painted during study in New York last summer…And then there are two delightful pictures by this artist, the things we know and love, Bayboro and Pass-a-Grille scenes. Miss King for many years a member of the local club has recently been elected to membership in the Southern States Art League, the second of the St. Petersburg group to be so honored, the other being S. Peter Wagner. She is head of the art department of the St. Petersburg high school.”
Another review found in the Times, July 19,1932, “Miss King’s paintings …represent without exception a freshness, directness and force of both color and composition that is delightful…in the six scenes of Florida may be found more spontaneity and joyousness than in any of the other pictures, an unconscious revelation, perhaps, of the genuine love and understanding which Miss King bears for the state which she adopted as her home some 10 years ago….”
Born: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Education: Canada; England; Columbia University, New York City, with Arthur W. Dow; Provincetown, Massachusetts; with E. Ambrose Webster.
Membership: Art Club of St. Petersburg, president; Florida Federation of Art, president; Southern States Art League.
Exhibits: Students’ Art Club, Exhibit of Florida Art, Tampa Public Library, May 2- May 9, 1922, A Bit of Jungle, four sketches; Students’ Art Club, 2nd Annual Exhibition of Florida Art, Tampa Museum of Art, City Hall, March 12-March 19, 1923, In Methodist Town; Pasadena Women’s Club, twenty-four canvases including scenes from Florida, Canada, Grand Canyon, California, March 1925; Art Club of St. Petersburg, January 1927, watercolors and oils; Art Club of St. Petersburg, 5th Annual Exhibit, February 1927; St. Petersburg High School, Valentine Fete, February 1927, Hotel Rolyat; Art Club of St. Petersburg, June 1928, Provincetown scenes, Tarpon Springs scene; Art Club of St. Petersburg, January 1929, seven oil paintings, St. Petersburg and Florida scenes; Florida Federation of Art, 1929, 2nd Annual Convention and Circuit, Sponge Boats-Tarpon Springs; Pasadena Women’s Club, one woman exhibit, April 1929, fifteen canvases; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, Tampa Art Institute, Municipal Auditorium, Tampa, January 1931, Fishing Boats at Bayboro, Van Cortland Park; Art Club of St. Petersburg, July, 1932, one woman exhibit, twenty-one paintings including, A Pioneer, Boats, Tampa Bay; Florida Federation of Art, Annual Circuit, 1933; Art Club of St. Petersburg, March 1935; Florida Federation of Art, 11th Annual Exhibition, St. Augustine, December 2-5, 1937, Fishing Camp; Federal Art Galleries, St. Petersburg, 415, 3rd Avenue South, December 1937; Florida Federation of Art, All Florida Show, 1938; Ridge Art Association, Winter Haven, October 1954, Remodeled, Pass-A-Grille Petticoats; Tampa Art Institute, March 1955; Florida Federation of Art, 32nd Annual Exhibition, November 13-28, 1958, Daytona Beach, oil, Sunshine Yacht Club; National League of American Pen Women, Artist Member Exhibit, Craft Village, St. Petersburg, January 1959.
Directory: Listed in the St. Petersburg City Directory, 1924, 1956, 57, 58 as an artist with studio at 146 East 18th Avenue North.
