Vivian Goddard; '06 quake survivor, passionate artist (great)
Hyfler/Rosner
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
December 8, 2005 Thursday
HEADLINE: Vivian Goddard -- '06 quake survivor, passionate
artist
Services will be held later this month for Vivian Goddard, a
1906 San Francisco earthquake survivor and accomplished
artist who inspired many by painting every day well into her
90s.
Mrs. Goddard died Dec. 1 at Hayes Valley Care in San
Francisco. She was 101 and had been in failing health in
recent months with a variety of ailments that accompany a
century of life, said her daughter, Joan Tayler of San
Francisco.
She was born in 1904 in San Francisco and often recounted
her memories of the quake and fire that destroyed much of
San Francisco in 1906.
"She said she remembered her mother taking her by the hand
up the hill and camping out in a park," said Tayler.
Mrs. Goddard's interest in art developed as a small child,
when she and her sister contracted diphtheria. While she was
recovering, her mother gave her a pen, ink and art books to
look at and copy the drawings from. The lessons paid off
quickly, as she won her first prize in The Chronicle's
children's art competition when she was 4.
She studied art more formally at the San Francisco Art
Institute, where family members say she painted in the
courtyard beside the renowned Diego Rivera; she was believed
to be the school's oldest living alum. She also attended UC
Berkeley, but left to marry her first husband, Rod McLellan.
They had one child, Tayler. She had a son, Patrick Mahoney,
with her second husband, Joseph Mahoney, and no children
with her third husband, Wendell Irwin. She preferred to be
known in the community as Mrs. Goddard, referring to her
maiden name. For a time in the 1940s and 1950s, she lived on
the Peninsula in Palo Alto, Woodside and Menlo Park.
Over her long career, Mrs. Goddard studied art throughout
the world, from the Art Students League in New York to the
Académie de la Grande Chaumičre in Paris to Simi's Gallery
in Florence. She developed a post-impressionist style,
concentrating in oil, pastel and watercolor, and featured
children, ballet dancers and florals. Her work was shown in
museums such as the M.H. deYoung and the Crocker Art Museum
in San Francisco, and in many major collections. She
received honors from the Society of Western Artists and the
Mother Lode National Portrait Awards.
Art was as much a passion as a profession, as her eye was
constantly on the prowl for inspiration. When Native
Americans occupied Alcatraz Island during a 1969 protest,
she invited one to pose for a portrait.
"But she didn't glorify painting or philosophize about art,"
said Tayler. "When she was on a panel at the Art Institute
when she was 92, she told people, 'It's just hard work.' "
"No matter where you were going, even in a car ride around
the block, she would be commenting on how the light hit a
building or how the shadow was creeping over there," said
her son, Patrick Mahoney, who lives on Vashon Island, Wash.
In the 1960s, she visited the southern Spanish village of
Gaucin and loved it so much that she purchased a home there.
She would spent five or six months of the year there
painting the nearby foothills and other scenes around the
2,000-population town. "I think she really enjoyed the
rhythms of the village," Mahoney said.
Gaucin was a stark contrast to her life in bustling San
Francisco. Every morning, she would put on a hat, gloves and
throw a scarf around her neck and walk a few blocks from her
home at the Metropolitan Club to her Sutter Street studio,
stopping in Chinatown to pick up a few vegetables for her
lunch. She would return home later in the day after putting
in a full day's work.
Jane Kennedy noticed the routine that the then-90-year-old
woman was following, finally approaching her one day to ask,
"Where do you go every morning? And she said, 'I'm going to
my art studio. Would you like to see it?' " Kennedy
recalled. They struck up a friendship, and Mrs. Goddard
eventually painted her portrait. "And that was just like
her. Her art was vivid and warm, just like she was.
"It was an inspirational for younger women to see her do
this (routine) every day," Kennedy said.
Mrs. Goddard continued painting every day until she suffered
the first in a series of strokes 8 1/2 years ago, her
daughter said. "When she saw that she couldn't do it to the
level that she insisted on, she just didn't paint any more,"
Tayler said.
In addition to her two children, Mrs. Goddard is survived by
seven grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. The
family is scheduling a private service for her later this
month, and another will be held next year in Gaucin, Spain.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Hospice by the
Bay, 1540 Market St., San Francisco, 94102.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO (2)
(1) Vivian Goddard won a Chronicle children's art contest
when she was 4 and painted well into her 90s. / The
Chronicle, (2) "My Village," by Mrs. Goddard, is of the
village of her second home in Gaucin, Spain. / Courtesy of
the Goddard family