Old Homestead, watercolor on paper, 7 x 8 1/2, signed lower right: Samuel E. Gideon, Gideon, a Kentucky native, studied architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, prior to graduating from the American School of Fine Arts, France. Upon relocating to Texas, and Gideon accepted teaching positions at Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught architectural design and history for several decades, between 1900 and his death in 1945. During his teaching years, Gideon spent summers in Laguna Beach, California, and often traveled to Mexico and New England to paint. His subjects are usually architectural, and his style reflects an impressionist sensibility. Gideon is credited with first generating public regional interest in the work of German artists living in Central Texas.