Oscar Maurer

The teenaged Oscar got a box camera, set up a darkroom in the basement, and was soon selling a line of San Francisco scenes to local art stores.

[3] That year he was elected to the board of directors of the California Camera Club, and he and William E. Dassonville opened a portrait studio in San Francisco.

In early 1901 Maurer entered ten prints in the First San Francisco Photographic Salon, then traveled in Europe with Dassonville.

"Art salons" in his home and those hosted by his concert pianist brother, Frederick, were widely reported in the press.

Maurer twice contributed to the Alameda County Exposition where in 1908 Brigman referred to his study of a Mexican Doorway as "majestic.

After 1906, Maurer continued to exhibit his photographs in prestigious venues such as Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession Gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue, New York.

While his exhibition and published photographs often depicted nature and street scenes, Maurer derived his income mostly from portrait photography.