Will Sparks (1862-1937 San Francisco, CA), Colonnade, Palace of Fine Arts, Pan-Pacific International Exhibition, San Francisco, CA, est:$15,000/25,000
*Price Realized: $17,250.00

1915, signed lower right: Will Sparks, oil on canvas, 24'' x 20''. Exhibited: Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, and Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA, ''Twilight and Reverie: California Tonalist Painting 1890-1930'', February-October 1995, no. 59. Literature: H. Jones, ''Twilight and Reverie: California Tonalist Painting 1890-1930'', Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, 1995, p. 63, no. 59, illustrated. Note: Together with the book ''Twilight and Reverie: California Tonalist Painting 1890-1930''. ''Colonnade, Palace of Fine Arts'' is an important example from the artist's series of works produced during the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco, showcasing the artist's ability to capture dramatic lighting in a nocturnal setting. ''Sparks's paintings reveal his particular fascination with twilight scenes that combine the effects of both natural and artificial sources of light'' (H. Jones, ''Twilight and Reverie'', Oakland Museum, 1995, p. 10). ''Shortly prior to the opening of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, Will Sparks was chosen as Secretary of an organization known as 'The Artists of California.' During the Exposition Sparks reproduced in oils many of the artistic structures which housed the world's treasures. His work was considered of such excellence that the Crocker Printing Company of San Francisco reproduced them on post-cards which carried his work in miniature to every part of the world'' (G. Hailey, ed., Abstract from the California Art Research W.P.A. project, no. 2874, chapter: 'Panama-Pacific International Exposition Art Work', Vol. XI). Provenance: Trotter Galleries, Carmel, CA; Private Collection, Los Angeles, CA, acquired from the above. Condition: Visual: Stable paint shrinkage and very fine craquelure throughout, particularly on building and in foreground. Blacklight: No evidence of restoration under blacklight. AS-IS. ALL SALES FINAL.