Eugenia Francis Baker McComas was a landscape painter, muralist and journalist who was born in San Francisco on September 6, 1886. She was commonly known as Gene Baker. Gene Baker studied at Berkeley School of Arts and Crafts and with Xavier Martinez. It was in Martinez's studio that she met the landscape painter Francis John McComas whom she married in 1917.Prior to her marriage she was a resident of Oakland for many years and a journalist for the Oakland Tribune. The couple settled in Monterey and traveled extensively gathering subject matter in Europe, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii and the South Seas. She is best known as a landscapist, though she also painted portraits and still lifes. Her first solo exhibition was at Gump's department store in 1924. Her first major success came with a very well received solo exhibition in New York City in 1938. Gertrude Stein thought the mural at Del Monte Lodge on Monterey Peninsula was "the best thing she had seen in America," reported Woolfenden in recapping McComas's career.McComas was a member of the Carmel Arts Association, the San Francisco Art Association and National Society of Mural Painters. She exhibited at California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939 to 1940, De Young Museum in 1952, Art Institute of Chicago and Pasadena Art Institute. Her works are held in the collections of Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Oakland Museum, and Mills College in Oakland.REFERENCES: Biography from Hubbell Trading Post National Historic SiteAlexander, Irene. "Gene McComas Exhibit Powerful and Exciting." Monterey Peninsula Herald. November 18, 1955.Dawdy, Doris Ostrander. Artists of the American West: A Biographical Dictionary. Chicago: The Swallow Press, Inc. 1985.Hughes, Edan Milton. Artists in California: 1786-1940. San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company. 1986.Woolfenden, John. "Bohemian Life Recalled by Gene McComas." Monterey Peninsula Herald. Part I February 13, 1968. Part II February 14, 1968.