Don Louis Perceval

Don Perceval (1908-1979) was in Woodford, Essex, England on January 8, 1908. Perceval moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was quite young. He attended the Pasadena Military Academy before initiating art studies at the Choinard Art School under Nelbert Choinard and Frank T. Chamberlain. He began making sketching trips into the nearby deserts and illustrated his first book at age 19. After 1930 he returned to England for further study at the Heatherly Art School and the Royal College of Art. In the late 1930s he made a second trip to Europe; when World War II erupted he enlisted in the Royal Navy and served for the duration. After the war he returned to Altadena, California and taught at Choinard’s and Pomona College. Perceval was made a member of the Hopi tribe in 1952 and lived in Tuscon, Arizona from 1954-59. In 1959 he settled in Santa Barbara, California where he remained until his demise on May 13, 1979. His forte was desert and western subjects.