Angel De Service Espoy

Cows in Summer Landscape (California Coastal Ranch, Carmel Valley), c. 1914

c. 1914

Angel Espoy was born in Villa Nueva, Spain on October 2, 1879. At the age of eighteen he left home to join the Spanish merchant marines and served as first mate. During his stint as a merchant marine he developed a love for the sea and a true appreciation for clipper ships.

Having a profound interest to portray his experiences, Espoy traveled to Barcelona where he studied with Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923). Two years were spent in Havana where he began to earn his living as an artist by painting designs on furniture. Destitute, Angel made his way to New York City in 1904. After a return to his native land, he moved to San Francisco in 1914. There he supported himself for seven years making cartoons for movies while painting on weekends with Manuel Valencia, Carl Jonnevold, and John Califano. In 1922 Angel Espoy moved to southern California and from that time was able to subsist by the sale of his paintings. His great love of the sea is evident in the body of his work which includes seascapes and maritime subjects; however, he was also an accomplished painter of California’s rolling hills of poppies and lupines. Espoy died in Seal Beach, CA on January 31, 1963.

Angel Espoy Biography courtesy of Hughes.

His landscapes and marine art were exhibited at the Los Angeles City Hall, Oakland Museum of California, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Loyola University. His style was influenced by the Barbizon school of painters.