ALFRED MITCHELL (1888-1972)
15. Mission Valley, California
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right
36 x 48 inches
48 x 60 framed
Provenance:
The Artist, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,
1920
Museum Funds Purchase (1920) from PAFA
The Reading Public Museum, Pennsylvania,
1920-2005
Exhibition:
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1920, illustrated in original
catalogue.
Alfred Mitchell was well known as an Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter. He was one of San Diego’s most renowned artists. Mitchell was born in York, Pennsylvania, but moved to California in 1909. There, he studied with the artist Maurice Braun. After studying with Braun, Mitchell went back to Pennsylvania to study with Joseph Pearson (1876-1951), Daniel Garber (1880-1958), and Edward Redfield (1869-1965) at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. These artists influenced him to use stronger brushwork, bold color, and heavy outlines. When Mitchell returned to California in the early 1920s, he became heavily involved in the art scene, serving as president of the San Diego Art Guild in 1922 and 1923, and helping found the Laguna Beach Art Association.
Mission Valley, California, is perhaps the finest painting to be created by Alfred Mitchell in his lifetime. The flowing brushwork and use of sumptuous color radiates throughout the entire picture. The heavy build up (impasto) and application of paint conveys a sense of strength and artistic maturity. Alfred Mitchell was in his glory when he painted this exquisite masterpiece.
This unusually large painting provides historical documentation of what used to be a working dairy farm in Mission Valley. The area was once a center for dairy and agricultural production, and now it has become a commercial hub for retail businesses, hotels, and restaurants. Mitchell’s painting captured life in the valley before the debate over its development ever began. A true testament of what once was, this idyllic painting is a treasure.
Works held: The
Fleischer Collection, Arizona; The Irvine Museum; University of Oregon Medical
School; Van Nuys High School; San Diego Public Library; San Diego Fine Arts
Society; University Club, San Diego; San Diego Museum of Man; Blanden Memorial
Art Museum, Ft. Dodge, Iowa; Ohio Wesleyan University; Hahnemann Medical
College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; University of West Virginia.
The Redfern Gallery
1540 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 T: (949) 497-3356 F: (949) 497-1324 mail@redferngallery.com
at the Montage Resort and Spa
30801 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 T: (949) 715-6193