Gordon Coutts (American, 1868 to 1937)
A native of Glasgow, Scotland, Gordon Coutts was an enormously versatile painter who specialized in Impressionist and Tonalist styles and diverse subjects ranging from California landscapes and Indian genre scenes to boudoir nudes and portraits of North Africans. He received classical art training in London and at the Academie Julian in Paris before teaching from 1896 to 1899 at the Art Society of New South Wales in Melbourne, Australia. Respiratory health problems forced Coutts to search out warmer climates, and during the 1920s he divided his time between Tangiers and Palm Springs.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, January 2009.