Charles Ware

Artist Bio

Charles M. Ware was born in 1921, in Santa Rosa, California. He grew up there on his family ranch. But Charlie wanted to be an artist, not a farmer. Ware won a scholarship to the California School of Fine Art (now known as the SF Art Institute.) During World War II, Charlie Ware served in the military, though it was not a comfortable fit. He spent some time in the stockade for drinking and going AWOL.

After the war he briefly returned to school. But the changing times and prevailing fashions in the art world (Clifford Still and Mark Rothko were coming into vogue at the school), again left Charlie Ware feeling on the outside. Being more akin to earlier artists such Max Ernst and Ernst Fuchs, he decided to follow his own path. The following two pages show samples of both his prints and paintings, from a career that continued until his death in 2005. Not all works shown are still available

Charles Ware on San Francisco Online Arts