EDGAR PAYNE (1883-1947)
29. High Sierra
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
25 x 30 inches
34 x 39 framed
Provenance:
Redfern Gallery, 2000
Private Collection, Santa Barbara, until 2005
Among the most widely known of the Early California Plein Air artists, Edgar Payne left an extraordinary legacy for the art movement not only in California, but also for American painting. His works appear in many major art collections: Western, American, and European. As both a painter and a teacher his concepts are still followed today. Although reserved by nature, Payne was also a leader and is credited with establishing the Laguna Beach Art Association in 1918.
Known as "God of the Mountains", the High Sierra was perhaps the place where Payne felt most at home. Often packing into the High Sierra for months at a time, setting up camp, he created an incredible body of work. High Sierra is a mature work, painted after Payne's years in Europe, and when he was well established as a highly successful artist. The bright blues and greens with the highly defined edges create the effect of the crisp mountain air. Refreshingly, much of the High Sierra remains this pristine and untouched today.
In Payne's own words, "Here it is different. The California Sierras are not yet fully explored. I have stood on the banks of fifty mountain lakes that are neither charted nor named. I have sketched in the shadow of mountains that would be famous in Europe, but that are known here only as units of the Sierra Range." His impact was so monumental that in his honor there is a lake named Payne Lake.
Works held:
Chicago Art
Museum, John Herron Art Institute of Indianapolis, Laguna Art Museum, Los
Angeles Museum, The Irvine Museum, National Academy of Design Collection,
National Collection of Fine Arts, Senate Building, Washington, D.C., Pasadena
Art Institute, Pasadena Art Museum, Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, Springville
Museum of Art, Springville, Utah; University of Nebraska Galleries, The
Fleischer Collection, Arizona
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