Brents Carlton was born October 31, 1903, in Roswell, New Mexico. After a few years, his family moved to Arkansas. In 1923, Carlton moved to San Francisco to attend the California School of Fine Arts for four years. From 1928 to 1929, he studied under a scholarship at the Art Students' League in New York, after which he returned to San Francisco and established his own studio. In order to support his family, Carlton was also employed as a pharmacist for 30 years.
In 1938, Carlton created several of his most notable works, two large cast concrete figures for the Fountain of Western Waters Polynesian Group at the Golden Gate international Exposition and two eighteen-foot figures for the façade of the California State Building. His works have been exhibited in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Oakland Art Gallery, and the San Francisco Museum. Due to failing health in the late 1950s, Carlton switched from sculpture to painting.
Brents Carlton died September 6, 1962 in San Francisco.
From the guide to the Brents Carlton papers, 1921-1987, (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution)
