"Edgar Payne - The Scenic Journey" Exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum

Of special interest to collectors and students of the history of Early California painting is the new exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum, “Edgar Payne – The Scenic Journey”.  The show is a comprehensive exhibit of paintings by one of the most famous and distinguished artists of the Early California art genre. 

The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento was established in 1885, and unveiled a 125,000 square foot addition in October of 2010.  The museum includes one of the premier permanent collections of Early California paintings in the state, and is the perfect venue for this exhibition of over 80 works by this important California impressionist.

Patrick Kraft, Director of William A. Karges Fine Art in Carmel, California, attended the opening reception for the Exhibit.  He said that “Curator Scott Shields did a first class job. The paintings were beautifully presented, and there was a strong turnout of serious collectors, art dealers, and authors.  The 1910 Model T Ford was a nice touch, as was the movie of Payne hiking and painting in the Sierras.  It was a large and impressive collection of Paynes from his primary subject matters, the Sierras, the Southwest, boat scenes, and seascapes.”

California Coast - SOLD

The exhibit was curated by the Crocker’s Chief Curator and Associate Director, Scott A. Shields, Ph.D, and organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art.  Shields describes Payne’s works as “imbued with an internal force and active dynamism achieved through majestic, vital landscape subjects”. 

Edgar Payne (1883 – 1947) is probably best known for his impressionist plein air landscapes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

"Sierra Slopes - Heart Lake" - SOLD

He also traveled the world extensively and painted scenes in many other locations, including the French and Swiss Alps, as well as fishing scenes in Italy and France. 

Swiss Scene - SOLD

Knowledgeable collectors particularly admire his paintings of the Southwest, including majestic scenes of the Grand Canyon and Canyon de Chelly.

Canyon de Chelly - SOLD

In 1920, Payne became the first President of the Laguna Beach Art Association.  This important group of artists also included notable early California painters Joseph Kleitsch, Hanson Puthuff, and William Wendt.

Edgar Payne’s works can be found in numerous museums and public collections, including the Laguna Art Museum, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., the Oakland Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

His book “The Composition of Outdoor Painting” has been popular with artists as a guide for many years, and has been reprinted many times.  The beautiful new book, “Edgar Payne – The Scenic Journey” was published as companion to the current exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum, and features a lead essay and chronology by Scott Shields. 

In the new book, he writes “In each locale, he sought vitality, bigness, nobility, and grandeur, which he turned into unified, carefully calculated compositions with brushwork that seemed to pulsate with life.”  

Sierra Peak - SOLD

The exhibit opened to the public on February 11^th and continues through May 6^th, 2012.  Related events at the museum include a visit to the exhibit with commentary by the Curator and Assistant Curator on March 29^th at 5:30, and a screening of a new documentary film about the artist on May 3^rd at 6:30 pm.  For additional information about the exhibit, please contact the Crocker Art Museum, located at 216 O Street, at (916) 808-7000.  For additional information about available paintings by Edgar Payne at William A. Karges Fine Art in Carmel and Beverly Hills, please call (800) 833-9185.

Art in the Adobes, Sept 30 through October 2, 2011

Early California Art lovers are looking forward to “Art in the Adobes”, a unique event taking place in downtown Monterey September 30^th through October 2^nd.  During the weekend, a number of important paintings by a variety of Early Monterey artists will be on view.  The title of the Exhibition is “Hidden Treasures from Old Monterey”, since many of the paintings have rarely been seen by the public until now. The exhibition focuses on local artists from the Monterey area who worked during the late 18^th century and early 19^th century. The works will be displayed simultaneously in a number of historic venues, including the Stevenson House, The Cooper-Molera Adobe, and ColtonHall, site of the 1849 California Convention.

Note: Images posted in this blog are NOT paintings that will be on display at this event (those will remain “hidden” until the Festival begins on the 30^th).  Images seen in this post are paintings by artists represented at the event, and several of the works are currently available to interested collectors through Karges Fine Art.  

Paintings that will be on display during Art at the Adobes include works by noted marine artist Armin Hansen, Charles Rollo Peters, and Mary DeNeale Morgan. 

Armin Hansen settled in the Monterey area in 1913, and was one of the founders of the Carmel Art Association.   One of his oversize masterpieces will be on view at Casa Serrano during the Festival.  He is best remembered for his dramatic depictions of coastal scenes, boats, and local fishermen.

Fisher's Landing by Armin Hansen

Mary DeNeale Morgan settled in Carmel in 1909, and attended summer art classes that were led by William Merritt Chase. She later became the director of the Carmel School of Art from 1917-1925.  

On Sunday, October 2^nd, 2011, Lila Staples, Chair of the Visual and Public Art Department at California State University Monterey Bay, will present a lecture and slide discussion focusing on women artists of Monterey’s early years.   Scott Shields, Chief Curator of the Crocker Art Museum, will be on hand Saturday October 1^st at Monterey City Hall with a lecture titled “When Monterey was Modern: The Peninsula’s Early Art Colony and its Place in California Art”.

Works by Christian Jorgensen (1860 – 1935) will be on display at the Cooper-Molera Adobe, a National Historic Trust site.  He is best remembered for his intricately detailed coastal scenes featuring the distinctive local Cypress trees.  In 1905 he and his wife Angela built a boulder home in Carmel, which later became the Hotel La Playa.

Christian Jorgensen -  Coastal Cypress     SOLD

Charles Rollo Peters, known for his quiet, contemplative nocturnes, will also be represented at the event.  The MontereyMuseum of Art  will mount a special display of important paintings on loan, and the StevensonHouse will also provide a temporary home to paintings by Peters and his second wife, Constance Evans Easley Peters.

Charles Rollo Peters "Adobe  SOLD

The Monterey Public library will have paintings on display by local artists Arthur Hill Gilbert, Francis McComas, and Abel Warshawsky.  

Abel Warshawsky - Coastal Scene

Francis McComas, noted for his delicate watercolors, studied with Arthur Mathews (a central figure in the San Francisco Bay Area art scene) at the Mark Hopkins Institute in San Francisco at the turn of the century.

Francis McComas "Monterey Oaks"

 

For additional information, details, and tickets to the Art in the Adobes event, please visit the official website at www.artintheadobes.org  

Three Important Exhibits on Display at the Crocker Art Museum

The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento currently has three outstanding exhibitions of early California and American paintings on display.  The museum, which unveiled a new 125,000 square foot addition in October of 2010, also has a strong permanent collection of Early California art.  The exhibitions currently open to the public also include works from the Brooklyn Museum and the Bank of America Collection.

The first exhibit, which opened on May 14^th, 2011, is titled “Transcending Vision: American Impressionism, 1870-1940”.  This collection of paintings by American Artists who were influenced by the French Impressionist movement features 125 works by a diverse group.  Paintings by notable and influential American artists George Inness and George Bellows are included in the exhibition, which ends on September 25^th, 2011.

Another exhibition of interest to admirers of Early American art is “Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism”,  which opened to the public on June 11^th, and runs through September 18^th.  This display includes approximately 40 landscape paintings from the Brooklyn Museum.  Both French and American artists are represented in a group of works from the mid-nineteenth through the early twentieth-century.   Works by John Singer Sargent and Childe Hassam are prominently featured.

The third show currently on display at the Crocker is titled “Gardens and Grandeur: Porcelains andPaintings by Franz A. Bischoff”.  The collection went on view June 25^th, and the exhibition continues through October 23^rd, 2011.  The exhibit chronicles the history and career of the “King of the Rose Painters”, and features approximately 40 examples of this artist’s work. 

Remembered primarily for his floral still lifes, Franz Bischoff was one of the finest early California Impressionists, and an outstanding colorist.  For additional information about this important Southern California artist, see our Blog entry which was posted last December.

For additional information about the Crocker Museum, including operating hours and directions, please visit their website at www.crockerartmuseum.org  

The Quiet Landscapes of Russell Chatham

Born in 1939, a native of San Francisco, Russell Chatham was an active artist in Livingston, Montana since 1972.  A talented, self-taught painter, illustrator, and writer, his works were often highly evocative with soft tonal qualities.  He was also considered one of the world’s foremost lithographers.    

"Spring Moonrise", Lithograph

His grandfather, Gottardo Piazzoni (1872 – 1945),  was a well known early California artist and is also remembered for his simple compositions and quiet, muted colors.

Russell Chatham’s landscapes often revealed his fascination with the changing seasons and the subtle nuances of light and shadow.  His works often depicted quiet moments of solitude and spirituality.  Of his work, he said:  "Creating art is an attempt to search for something beyond ourselves".

"Winter Moonrise" 12 x 16 Oil on board - SOLD

This painting shown above, “Winter Moonrise”, is signed by the artist, on the right side, with his personally developed calligraphic character, placed within a double oval.  Chatham developed this character in his late twenties.  It was based on the distinctive shape of the little slough that lies at the head of Tamales Bay in Marin County.   

Chatham moved to Marin in 1949.  He placed this monogram, rather than a traditional signature, on all his works since his late twenties.  He said that this two dimensional calligraphic character “represents the epicenter of my relationship to the natural world”.  He also noted that “I was never comfortable seeing my name written on the face of the pictures, partly I suppose because visual and verbal language seem so at odds with each other.  But using the monogram, and doing so very discreetly, seems to help soften the presence of my hand, moving it into the shadows where it belongs.”  

"Landscape" 7 x 9 inches  SOLD

His personal interests included fly fishing, hunting, and conservation, and he wrote numerous essays and short stories on these topics.   In 1990, he began working on a series of twelve large paintings for the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.   

 

Chatham had hundreds of exhibitions in galleries and museums over the course of his lifetime, though he is not a prolific painter.  He sometimes only completed six or seven large paintings a year.  This kind, talented and important artist passed away on November 10th, 2019 at the age of 80 and will be remembered fondly.

For additional information on available paintings by this remarkable artist, feel free to contact Patrick Kraft at William A. Karges Fine Art in Carmel, California at (800) 833-9185. 

Franz Bischoff Exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art

Franz Bischoff (1864-1929) is considered to be one of the finest early California impressionist painters, and an outstanding colorist.  His free flowing brushwork calls to mind both the impressionist and post impressionist styles, and he was well known for his strong compositions.  He is remembered primarily for his floral still lifes, especially his roses, but his body of work encompasses a wide variety of subjects and locations.  His paintings include Southern California landscapes, Carmel coastal scenes, and beautiful vignettes of Cambria. 

"Point Lobos" (Monterey County, California)   SOLD

Born in Austria in 1864, Bischoff studied painting, design, and porcelain decoration in Vienna.  He immigrated to New York in 1885, became a successful china painter, and eventually earned a reputation as “King of the Rose Painters”.

"Vase"      SOLD

"Rose Garden"    SOLD

He first visited California in 1900 and soon moved to Los Angeles.   In 1908 he completed construction of his home in South Pasadena, built in the Italian Renaissance style.   His home included a gallery, ceramic workshop, and a painting studio.

During his early years in California he began painting en plein air, creating landscapes outdoors in natural light.  

"Arroyo Seco"         SOLD

In 1912, he traveled to Europe to study the French Impressionists, and afterwards his use of color became more pronounced, dramatic, and vibrant.  

"Bush Gardens"       SOLD

Bischoff was an early member of the California Art Club, whose other members include important early California Impressionists Edgar Payne, Hanson Puthuff, and William Wendt.  He was also a member of the Laguna Beach Art Association.  He died in Pasadena, California on February 5^th, 1929 after a long, successful career.

Visitors to the Pasadena Museum of California Art can now view a large collection of the artist’s works at the current exhibit “Gardens and Grandeur: Porcelains and Paintings by Franz  A. Bischoff”.   The exhibition includes early ceramic works, as well as his later canvases.  The exhibition continues through March 20^th, 2011.  The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday 12 to 5.  Call 626-568-3665 for further information.  In the future, the exhibit will also travel to the Crocker Museum and the Irvine Museum.

Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum Reopens its Doors

Early California Art lovers were delighted to hear about the recent new addition to The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.   The new 125,000 square foot building, designed by architect Gwathmey Siegel, was opened to the public on October 10^th.    Established in 1885, the Crocker Art Museum includes one of the premier collections of Early California paintings in the state.    The new building houses a gallery filled with early 20^th century Southern California Landscape paintings. 

The monumental work, “Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite, 1871” by early landscape artist Thomas Hill (1829 – 1908) is prominently featured in the new building. 

Other notable works in the permanent collection include “San Fernando Mission” by Charles Rollo Peters  , “April Skies, 1910” by William Wendt , and “A Shepherd and his Flock in the Early Morning Mist, 1930” by Granville Redmond.

Also found in the vast collection are works by artist Colin Campbell Cooper (1856 – 1937), known for his impressionist style views of cities around the world.

Master watercolorist Percy Gray, remembered for his delicate, misty, romantic landscapes, is also represented in the permanent collection. 

Other early California paintings on view at the Museum  include works by such notable artists as Franz Bischoff, John Gamble,  and Edgar Payne.

The Crocker Art Museum is located at 216 O Street, Sacramento, CA.  Phone: (916) 808-7000.  Hours are Tuesday & Wednesday 10 AM-7 PM, Thursday 10 AM-9 PM, Friday-Sunday 10 AM-5 PM, Closed Mondays.  Every third Sunday of the month is “Pay What You Wish Sunday”.

For additional information about currently available original paintings by these important early California artists, please visit William A. Karges Fine Art at Dolores and Sixth Avenue in Carmel, CA (831) 625-4266 and 427 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA (310) 276-8551 or visit the website at www.kargesfineart.com

William Ritschel

William Frederick Ritschel was primarily known for his marine and coastal views of the Carmel area.   A talented and successful early California artist, his paintings still evoke a strong emotional response.  Using impressionistic lighting effects to create scenes that varied from quiet moonlit shores to dramatic, violent ocean storms,  Ritschel had a remarkable ability to convey a particular mood or atmosphere.

Ritschel was born in Nuremberg, Germany on July 11^th, 1864 and worked as a sailor in his youth.  He was inspired by the ocean and its changing moods and became fascinated by it as he drew and sketched.    He studied at the Royal Academy in Munich, and was quite well known throughout Europe.   Immigrating to New York City in 1895, he also enjoyed considerable success in the United States.

He was a member of the Salamagundi Club and the New York Watercolor Society.   Like other followers of the Impressionist style, he explored the quality of light in each scene, using loose, clearly visible brushstrokes, that captured a feeling of movement and spontaneity.   His attraction to the ocean, with its ever-changing moods and motions, seemed perfectly suited to the impressionist approach. 

William Ritschel, "Seafoam and Rocks", 25 x 30 inches, SOLD

In 1911, he came to Carmel, California, which was quickly becoming a thriving artists’ colony as painters began to arrive following the San Francisco earthquake.     In 1912, he began to exhibit his California coastal scenes at venues on the East Coast and simultaneously displayed his works at the Art Gallery at the Del Monte Hotel in Monterey.

William Ritschel, "Trees and Surf", 24 x 24 inches, SOLD

 

In 1918, he built “Castel a Mare”, his castle-like home in the Carmel Highlands area, perched directly on the ocean’s edge.   He was known as a flamboyant character, often dressing in a flowered sarong.  

William Ritschel, "Carmel Highlands", 12 x 16 inches, SOLD

In 1913, artist Armin Hansen moved to Carmel, and was eventually introduced to William Ritschel in 1918.  Ritschel arranged for Hansen to show his works in a New York gallery and Armin Hansen eventually became one of the most prominent and celebrated early California artists who also focused on marine and coastal subjects. 

Armin Hansen, "Beating it for Home", 14 x 17, SOLD

 

Ritschel traveled around the world and painted the seas and coasts of various exotic locations including the South Seas, Asia, Capri, and Majorca.    He died in his beloved “Castel a Mare” on March 11^th, 1949.   In October of 1949, Armin Hansen was the author of a moving tribute to the artist for Ritschel’s Memorial Exhibition which was held at the Carmel Art Association.

A number of Ritschel’s large scale paintings can currently be seen at the Monterey Museum of Art as part of the current exhibition “Land and Sea: Paintings and photographs of Monterey and Beyond”.   Selections on view include a remarkable and unusual canvas depicting New York City’s East River in Winter, a large dramatic work of a ship drifting in a stormy Sargasso Sea, and several moonlit Seascapes featuring local scenes from the Carmel and Monterey area.   The exhibit continues through October 24^th, 2010.

For additional information on currently available paintings by William Ritschel and Armin Hansen, please contact our staff at William A. Karges Fine Art in Carmel at (800) 833-9185.