Printmaker, painter, and illustrator William Ross Cameron was born in New York City on June 14, 1893. His family relocated to San Francisco, California, in 1905, where Cameron would later study at the California School of Fine Arts under Eric Spencer Macky and Xavier Martinez, as well as courses at the California College of Arts and Crafts under Perham Nahl.

Following graduation, he traveled to London and Paris to study Old Master paintings and prints. On his return to the Bay Area he took freelance illustration jobs as well as a position as staff artist for the Oakland Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Call Bulletin newspapers. In addition to his graphic art and illustrations, he began to exhibit with the California Society of Etchers and Thirteen Watercolorists; by the 1930s, he had established a parallel career as a professional exhibiting fine artist, specializing in miniature watercolors and small format woodcuts of the Bay Area and Europe.

Cameron eventually settled in the East Bay, first in Alameda and then in Berkeley. There he died on December 9, 1971.

Source:

Crocker Art Museum

California Watercolor.com