254

Edgar Alwin Payne

(1883-1947)

"Mountain View"

Oil on canvas laid to board
Signed lower right: Edgar Payne; titled on an authentication label signed in ink by Edward Goldfield, affixed verso
9.75" H x 12.125" W

  • Provenance:
    Estate of the artist
    Goldfield Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
    Sold: Butterfield and Butterfield, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, October 16, 1991, Lot 2473
    From the Collection of Robert A. Day
  • Notes:
    From the sparkling waters of France and Italy and the snow-swept peaks of the Swiss Alps to the rolling hills of California and sun-kissed deserts of the American Southwest, American painter Edgar Alwin Payne captured it all on canvas in an illustrious career as one of the United States' preeminent Impressionist painters.

    Born in Missouri, Payne dreamed of becoming an artist from the age of fourteen. In his late teens, he traveled throughout the American South and Midwest, painting murals and stage sets, before briefly studying at the Chicago Art Institute in 1907. Like many expressive artists of his time, Payne became bored with the rigid structure of academic art institutions and became a self-taught artist. Payne worked and lived as an artistic nomad, moving between California and Chicago, taking commissions, working on large-scale murals, and, in 1912, marrying fellow artist Elsie Philippa Palmer.

    In 1918, the couple settled in Laguna Beach, California, becoming an integral part of the burgeoning art community that was taking root there. Payne helped found the Laguna Beach Art Association in 1918 and became the organization's first president. From his home base in Southern California, Payne ventured out into the California mountains, painting striking scenes of the peaks and valleys of the Sierra Nevada and other ranges. Payne took on numerous commissions and exhibited throughout the Mid- and Western United States.

    Commissions began to wane after the stock market crash of 1929, and from 1930 onwards, Payne made painting the Sierra Nevadas his primary subject matter. He spent an excessive amount of time finding the perfect angle, the perfect lighting, to put on canvas. His love of the Sierra Nevada was unrivaled and even produced a documentary film, "Sierra Journey." Diagnosed with cancer in 1942, Edgar Payne passed away in 1947, leaving behind a legacy of American landscape painting.

    Edgar Payne's works are included in the collections of numerous institutions, including the Laguna Art Museum, the Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Payne Lake in the Sierra Nevada is named in his honor.
  • Condition: Visual: Overall good appearance. As mentioned, the canvas is laid to board.

    Blacklight: A few areas of touch-up (pea-sized or smaller), scattered primarily in the trees.

    Frame: 17" H x 19.25" W x 1.5" D


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