- Artworks
- Biography
Edith Bethune (Molly) Maguire (1861 - 1946) was born on March 14, 1861 on an estate in
Toureen, County Tipperary, Ireland. One of twelve children, she descended from a Royal Junior
Line of Maguires. The family moved to a beautiful Georgian home in Dublin in 1888. The last of
Edith’s many sisters died there in 1938.
After studying art in Europe, Edith sailed to the United States with her brother, James Hamilton
Maguire, in 1891. She worked as a painter and teacher first in in Chicago, and then in Salt Lake
City, where she maintained a studio and gallery at the Knutsford Hotel.
Around 1914 Edith moved to Berkeley, California before resettling again in Monterey in 1920.
There she continued her art studies with Armin Hansen. She became a member of the Monterey
History and Art Association on January 31, 1931. She was one of the earliest Artist Members of
the Carmel Art Association where she was an active exhibitor until the final decade of her
life. Her prize-winning paintings include detailed compositions of Utah landscapes, California
florals, Monterey Peninsula coastal and marine scenes. Never marrying, Edith Maguire died in
her Monterey home at 717 Madison on April 3, 1946, at the age of 85.
Recorded exhibitions of her work include: Walker Art Gallery (Liverpool), 1880s; Royal
Hiberian Academy (Dublin), 1880s; San Francisco Art Association, 1923; Hotel Claremont
(Oakland), 1926 and 1931; San Francisco Women Artists, 1920s and 1930s; Santa Cruz Art
League, 1929-1938; California Statewide (Santa Cruz), 1931; California State Fair, 1926-1933;
and the Watrous Gallery (Carmel), 1934.