Edgar Payne lived from 1883 to 1947. He was born in Missouri,in the Ozarks, lived in Texas and worked as an apprentice in his father's wood shop where he learned the art of furniture and picture frame making. He left home a 14 and survived by painting houses and learning set decorating, murals, and stage sets. He travel around and eventually to Chicago where he enrolled into the Art Institute for two weeks. He continued mural work as well as small landscapes. He came to California at the age of 26 in 1909 and painted in Laguna Beach. He worked for the Santa Fe railroad, traveling around and painting his way around the southwest.
His roaming took him to Europe several times where he painted ocean scenes in Italy and mountains in Switzerland. He moved frequently but eventually settled in the L.A. area and finally in Laguna.
This retrospective of Payne describes him as one of the most gifted and beloved of California's early plein-air painters who's work exemplifies the "power and dynamism that distinguishes California Impressionism from the more genteel French Impressionism of the 18th century. Payne referred to his expeditions and his paintings as his attempt to convey "the unspeakably sublime".
I found his work moving and inspiring...making me want to search and find those elements that we can find in nature today. I guess that is why I love Yosemite so much...I find that being there and witnessing the natural beauty is most sublime.
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| Notice the variegated blue of the water and the contrast with the orange and peach colored patched sails. |
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The Laguna coast. |
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| Altadena without the people...the early inhabitants must have been deeply inspired by the beauty. |
Payne traveled through the native American nations and often painted them into his western scenes (hard to see because of my blurred photo). This painting is of Sunset, Canyon de Chelly, 1916.
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