Born in Milton, MA on March 8, 1899, James Fitzgerald, after serving with the Marines in WWI, attended the Massachusetts School of Art and the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
In 1928 he shipped to the West Coast as a seaman aboard a freighter. After settling in Monterey, he had further study under Armin Hansen and shared a studio with Bruce Ariss on Martin Street. Having earlier sketched up and down the New England coast, he found the Monterey Peninsula and Big Sur equally captivating.
In 1943 he sold his studio in the Monterey hills and moved to the former home of Rockwell Kent on Monhegan Island, ME. After that time he made many trips to Jamaica, Nova Scotia, Canary Islands, and the Isle of Aran off the coast of Ireland where he died in April 1971.
His subjects include seascapes, coastals, and street scenes in oil and watercolor.