Gross Hall Art Gallery

Edgar Alwyn Payne (1882-1947) was born in Washburn, Missouri. Essentially a self-taught artist, Payne left home around 1902 at the age of nineteen and traveled for a number of years thought the South, the Midwest, and in Mexico. He settled in Chicago in 1907, where he enrolled in a portrait class at the Art Institute of Chicago. Dissatisfied with the class, he left after only two weeks. In 1909, he visited California and spent some time painting the Laguna Beach. He also visited San Francisco, where he met his future wife, artist Elsie Phillippa Palmer (1884-1971). On a visit to Santa Barbara in 1916, Payne took a side trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains and marveled at the beautiful, unspoiled beauty he encountered. This would be the first of countless trips to the Sierra, and he would earn a solid reputation as the “King of the Mountains.”

In the summer of 1922, the Paynes went to Europe, painting over a two-year period in France, Switzerland, and Italy. His favorite painting locations were the Alps and in the fishing ports of Chioggia, Italy, and Concarneau in Brittany, France. In Switzerland, Payne was irresistibly drawn to the majestic Alps. His painting of Mont Blanc entitled the Great White Peak received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in the spring of 1923.

In 1932, Edgar and Elsie separated but did not divorce. In 1946, he was diagnosed with cancer. Elsie reacted with love and immediacy. She closed her own studio and moved back in with Edgar. She nursed him through his final months until his death in Hollywood on April 8, 1947.

Guy Rose (1867-1925) was born in San Gabriel, California, and grew up on Sunny Slope, the Rose family ranch. As a child, Rose was accidently shot in the chin during a hunting trip with his brothers in 1876. He recovered, but it is believed that he retained several lead pellets in his chin. For the rest of his life, he suffered chronic bouts of lead poisoning, aggravated by his use of oil paints, which at the time contained significant amounts of lead.

In 1886, Rose went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design. There, in 1886 and 1887, he took classes with Emil Carlsen and Virgil Williams. In 1888, he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julian.

In 1894, Rose experienced a serious bout of lead poisoning, which forced him to abandon oil painting for several years. He gradually regained his health and returned to oil painting around 1897. In 1904, Rose and his wife, Ethel, settled in Giverny, becoming members of the small American art colony there. Although Rose did not paint with Monet, they nevertheless were friends and often socialized together.

Rose returned permanently to the United States in 1912, and in 1914, he settled in Pasadena. He painted primarily in the southern part of the state until about 1917, at which time he began to spend summers in Carmel and Monterey. In 1921, he was disabled by a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to paint. Four years later, Rose died in 1925 in Pasadena.

Paul Dougherty (1877-1947) Trained as a lawyer, Dougherty passed the New York State Bar examination and practiced law briefly before deciding to study art.  He studied with Robert Henri at the Art Students League of New York.

After a study tour through Europe, Dougherty returned to America in 1905 and settled on the coast of Maine.  There he focused on the heroic coastline and painted magnificent views of the rocks and waves of that region.  By 1907 his reputation as an artist was fixed when he was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Design.

Dougherty is known for his majestic views of the coast, often showing tremendous waves battering against the rocks.  In his later years, he began to seek a change of climate.  In 1928 he made the first of several visits to Arizona.  In 1931 he moved to the Monterey area and continued to paint the sea, but now the Pacific Ocean.  This coast-to-coast relocation sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate his eastern seascapes from his California works.  Continued health concerns caused him to spend winters in Palm Springs, where he died.

Ernest Bruce Nelson (1888-1952) Bruce Nelson studied civil engineering at Stanford University beginning in 1905.  There he met Robert B. Harshe (1879-1938), who was head of the art department, and after three years he transferred his interests to architecture.

After leaving Stanford he worked for an architectural firm in San Francisco.  He then went to New York and enrolled in the Art Students League.  He also attended the Woodstock Summer School under Birge Harrison (1854-1929).  He returned to San Francisco in 1912 and began exhibiting, immediately receiving positive criticism.

In the summer of 1913, Nelson opened a studio in Pacific Grove where he offered private and group classes.  He continued to exhibit his paintings in San Francisco and in Los Angeles.  Nelson served in the Army Camouflage Corps during World War I; and, after his discharge in 1918, went to Cooperstown, New York, where he painted murals at the home of James Fennimore Cooper.  It is believed that he then moved to New York City, where he later died.

Alma May Cook in the Los Angeles Tribune (May 17, 1914) predicted that Nelson would someday take a high place in the annals of American art.  Yet, mysteriously, the last exhibition record for Nelson appeared in 1924.  During his short career he was accorded a one-man show at the opening of the Oakland Art Gallery in 1916 and received a Silver Medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 for The Summer Sea (The Irvine Museum).

Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was born in Philadelphia. At the age of two and a half, he contracted Scarlett fever, an illness that almost claimed his life and left him permanently deaf. In 1874, his family came to San Jose, California, and in 1879, at the age of eight, Redmond enrolled as a resident student in what was then called the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in Berkeley (now called the California School for the Deaf and located in Fremont). There, he studied with Theophilus Hope d’Estrella and later with the deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden. In 1887, Redmond started attending Saturday classes at the California School of Design in San Francisco.

Upon his graduation from the School for the Deaf in 1890, he was awarded funds to attend the California School of Design full-time, where he studied under Arthur Mathews. In 1893, another scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, rooming with Douglas Tilden. In 1895, his painting Martin d’Hiver (winter Morning) was accepted for display at the Paris Salon, a particular honor for an American art student.

In 1912, Redmond became a member of the Bohemian Club where he befriended Maynard Dixon, who painted his portrait in 1914. In 1915, Redmond performed pantomime in a short film entitled In an Art Studio, which was shown at the Bohemian Club. In 1917, Redmond and his family moved to Los Angeles with the intent of auditioning for the movies, which were silent at the time. He met Charlie Chaplin, and between 1918 and 1931, Redmond acted in seven Chaplin films.

Paul Dougherty (1877-1947) Trained as a lawyer, Dougherty passed the New York State Bar examination and practiced law briefly before deciding to study art.  He studied with Robert Henri at the Art Students League of New York.

After a study tour through Europe, Dougherty returned to America in 1905 and settled on the coast of Maine.  There he focused on the heroic coastline and painted magnificent views of the rocks and waves of that region.  By 1907 his reputation as an artist was fixed when he was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Design.

Dougherty is known for his majestic views of the coast, often showing tremendous waves battering against the rocks.  In his later years, he began to seek a change of climate.  In 1928 he made the first of several visits to Arizona.  In 1931 he moved to the Monterey area and continued to paint the sea, but now the Pacific Ocean.  This coast-to-coast relocation sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate his eastern seascapes from his California works.  Continued health concerns caused him to spend winters in Palm Springs, where he died.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

Guy Rose (1867-1925) was born in San Gabriel, California, and grew up on Sunny Slope, the Rose family ranch. As a child, Rose was accidently shot in the chin during a hunting trip with his brothers in 1876. He recovered, but it is believed that he retained several lead pellets in his chin. For the rest of his life, he suffered chronic bouts of lead poisoning, aggravated by his use of oil paints, which at the time contained significant amounts of lead.

In 1886, Rose went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design. There, in 1886 and 1887, he took classes with Emil Carlsen and Virgil Williams. In 1888, he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julian.

In 1894, Rose experienced a serious bout of lead poisoning, which forced him to abandon oil painting for several years. He gradually regained his health and returned to oil painting around 1897. In 1904, Rose and his wife, Ethel, settled in Giverny, becoming members of the small American art colony there. Although Rose did not paint with Monet, they nevertheless were friends and often socialized together.

Rose returned permanently to the United States in 1912, and in 1914, he settled in Pasadena. He painted primarily in the southern part of the state until about 1917, at which time he began to spend summers in Carmel and Monterey. In 1921, he was disabled by a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to paint. Four years later, Rose died in 1925 in Pasadena.

Jean Mannheim (1862-1945) Jean Mannheim was born in Germany, which he fled for Paris after being drafted in to the army. While in Paris, Mannheim supported himself and his art studies at the Ecole Delecluse and Academie Colarossi with his skills as a bookbinder.

Mannheim left Paris for the U.S. in the 1880’s, settling in Chicago, where he painted portraits and taught in a Decatur art school. Following teaching stints in London and Denver, Mannheim moved to Pasadena in 1908, where he built a home on the rim of the Arroyo Seco.

While in southern California, Mannheim developed the bright style of landscape painting for which he is most well known. He also founded the Stickney Memorial School of Fine Arts in Pasadena in 1913.

Emil Kosa Jr. (1903-1968) The son of a French artist, Emil Kosa Jr. came to the United States with his family at the age of four.  He studied art at the California Art Institute in Los Angeles and at the French national art school the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.  Upon his return to Los Angeles, Kosa taught art at the Chouinard Art School and at Otis Art Institute.

A prolific painter in oils and watercolors, Kosa specialized in contemporary views of downtown Los Angeles and dramatic views of the rolling hills and farms around Los Angeles.  He spent 35 years as a scenic artist and special effects painter in Hollywood, working for 20th Century Fox and other studios.  He was well respected in the movie industry and won an Academy Award for his special effects in the 1963 film epic “Cleopatra.”

Kosa’s works are included in several important collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Santa Barbara Museum, the San Diego Museum, the Irvine Museum and the Mormon Church, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Guy Rose (1867-1925) was born in San Gabriel, California, and grew up on Sunny Slope, the Rose family ranch. As a child, Rose was accidently shot in the chin during a hunting trip with his brothers in 1876. He recovered, but it is believed that he retained several lead pellets in his chin. For the rest of his life, he suffered chronic bouts of lead poisoning, aggravated by his use of oil paints, which at the time contained significant amounts of lead.

In 1886, Rose went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design. There, in 1886 and 1887, he took classes with Emil Carlsen and Virgil Williams. In 1888, he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julian.

In 1894, Rose experienced a serious bout of lead poisoning, which forced him to abandon oil painting for several years. He gradually regained his health and returned to oil painting around 1897. In 1904, Rose and his wife, Ethel, settled in Giverny, becoming members of the small American art colony there. Although Rose did not paint with Monet, they nevertheless were friends and often socialized together.

Rose returned permanently to the United States in 1912, and in 1914, he settled in Pasadena. He painted primarily in the southern part of the state until about 1917, at which time he began to spend summers in Carmel and Monterey. In 1921, he was disabled by a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to paint. Four years later, Rose died in 1925 in Pasadena.

Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was born in Philadelphia. At the age of two and a half, he contracted Scarlett fever, an illness that almost claimed his life and left him permanently deaf. In 1874, his family came to San Jose, California, and in 1879, at the age of eight, Redmond enrolled as a resident student in what was then called the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in Berkeley (now called the California School for the Deaf and located in Fremont). There, he studied with Theophilus Hope d’Estrella and later with the deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden. In 1887, Redmond started attending Saturday classes at the California School of Design in San Francisco.

Upon his graduation from the School for the Deaf in 1890, he was awarded funds to attend the California School of Design full-time, where he studied under Arthur Mathews. In 1893, another scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, rooming with Douglas Tilden. In 1895, his painting Martin d’Hiver (winter Morning) was accepted for display at the Paris Salon, a particular honor for an American art student.

In 1912, Redmond became a member of the Bohemian Club where he befriended Maynard Dixon, who painted his portrait in 1914. In 1915, Redmond performed pantomime in a short film entitled In an Art Studio, which was shown at the Bohemian Club. In 1917, Redmond and his family moved to Los Angeles with the intent of auditioning for the movies, which were silent at the time. He met Charlie Chaplin, and between 1918 and 1931, Redmond acted in seven Chaplin films.

Maurice Braun (1877-1941) was born in Hungary and came to the United States at the age of four. He studied painting at the National Academy in New York and with William Merritt Chase. He established himself as a portrait painter. In 1909, he moved to San Diego, established an art school, and became a landscape painter. Although he lived in San Diego, Braun continued to exhibit in the East. Between 1911 and 1915, he exhibited annually at the National Academy in New York as well as in annual exhibitions of contemporary American painting at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts in Philadelphia, and the Detroit Museum of Art. He is regarded as the most important of the early San Diego artist.

Edgar Alwyn Payne (1882-1947) was born in Washburn, Missouri. Essentially a self-taught artist, Payne left home around 1902 at the age of nineteen and traveled for a number of years thought the South, the Midwest, and in Mexico. He settled in Chicago in 1907, where he enrolled in a portrait class at the Art Institute of Chicago. Dissatisfied with the class, he left after only two weeks. In 1909, he visited California and spent some time painting the Laguna Beach. He also visited San Francisco, where he met his future wife, artist Elsie Phillippa Palmer (1884-1971). On a visit to Santa Barbara in 1916, Payne took a side trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains and marveled at the beautiful, unspoiled beauty he encountered. This would be the first of countless trips to the Sierra, and he would earn a solid reputation as the “King of the Mountains.”

In the summer of 1922, the Paynes went to Europe, painting over a two-year period in France, Switzerland, and Italy. His favorite painting locations were the Alps and in the fishing ports of Chioggia, Italy, and Concarneau in Brittany, France. In Switzerland, Payne was irresistibly drawn to the majestic Alps. His painting of Mont Blanc entitled the Great White Peak received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in the spring of 1923.

In 1932, Edgar and Elsie separated but did not divorce. In 1946, he was diagnosed with cancer. Elsie reacted with love and immediacy. She closed her own studio and moved back in with Edgar. She nursed him through his final months until his death in Hollywood on April 8, 1947.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

John Marshall Gamble (1863-1957) was born in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1883, he enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design, taking classes with Virgil Williams and Emil Carlsen. Later, he continued his studies in Paris, at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi. He returned to San Francisco in 1893 to begin his art career. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 1906 was a complete disaster for Gamble. He lost the entire inventory of his work except for three paintings, which had been out with an art dealer. Wanting a new start, Gamble decided to move to Los Angeles to be near his close friend the artist Elmer Watchel (1864-1929). On his way, he stopped in Santa Barbara. The beauty and charm of the seaside village persuaded him to settle there. He was noted for his brilliant paintings of California wildflowers especially the Golden Poppy.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

John Marshall Gamble (1863-1957) was born in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1883, he enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design, taking classes with Virgil Williams and Emil Carlsen. Later, he continued his studies in Paris, at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi. He returned to San Francisco in 1893 to begin his art career. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 1906 was a complete disaster for Gamble. He lost the entire inventory of his work except for three paintings, which had been out with an art dealer. Wanting a new start, Gamble decided to move to Los Angeles to be near his close friend the artist Elmer Watchel (1864-1929). On his way, he stopped in Santa Barbara. The beauty and charm of the seaside village persuaded him to settle there. He was noted for his brilliant paintings of California wildflowers especially the Golden Poppy.

Paul Grimm (1891-1974) was born in King William’s Town, South Africa, and came to the United States in 1896, settling in Rochester, New York. At the age of eighteen, he won a scholarship for art study at the Düsseldorf Royal Academy. He came to California in 1919 and resided in Hollywood. There he supported himself by doing design and advertising work as well as by painting backdrops for early Hollywood. There he supported himself by doing design and advertising work as well as by painting backdrops for early Hollywood studios. In 1932, he moved to Palm Springs and remained there the rest of his life. He maintained a small studio-gallery in downtown Palm springs where such notables as President Dwight D. Eisenhower often visited and shared confidences. Eisenhower, who was an amateur painter, once wrote, “I profited from the experience of seeing how a real artist creates the effects he wants.”

Although Grimm painted scenes of the High Sierra, missions, and Indian Portraits, he is famous as the premier painter of the southern California desert and its many moods. Grimm died in Palm Springs on December 30, 1974.

Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was born in Philadelphia. At the age of two and a half, he contracted Scarlett fever, an illness that almost claimed his life and left him permanently deaf. In 1874, his family came to San Jose, California, and in 1879, at the age of eight, Redmond enrolled as a resident student in what was then called the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in Berkeley (now called the California School for the Deaf and located in Fremont). There, he studied with Theophilus Hope d’Estrella and later with the deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden. In 1887, Redmond started attending Saturday classes at the California School of Design in San Francisco.

Upon his graduation from the School for the Deaf in 1890, he was awarded funds to attend the California School of Design full-time, where he studied under Arthur Mathews. In 1893, another scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, rooming with Douglas Tilden. In 1895, his painting Martin d’Hiver (winter Morning) was accepted for display at the Paris Salon, a particular honor for an American art student.

In 1912, Redmond became a member of the Bohemian Club where he befriended Maynard Dixon, who painted his portrait in 1914. In 1915, Redmond performed pantomime in a short film entitled In an Art Studio, which was shown at the Bohemian Club. In 1917, Redmond and his family moved to Los Angeles with the intent of auditioning for the movies, which were silent at the time. He met Charlie Chaplin, and between 1918 and 1931, Redmond acted in seven Chaplin films.

Guy Rose (1867-1925) was born in San Gabriel, California, and grew up on Sunny Slope, the Rose family ranch. As a child, Rose was accidently shot in the chin during a hunting trip with his brothers in 1876. He recovered, but it is believed that he retained several lead pellets in his chin. For the rest of his life, he suffered chronic bouts of lead poisoning, aggravated by his use of oil paints, which at the time contained significant amounts of lead.

In 1886, Rose went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design. There, in 1886 and 1887, he took classes with Emil Carlsen and Virgil Williams. In 1888, he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julian.

In 1894, Rose experienced a serious bout of lead poisoning, which forced him to abandon oil painting for several years. He gradually regained his health and returned to oil painting around 1897. In 1904, Rose and his wife, Ethel, settled in Giverny, becoming members of the small American art colony there. Although Rose did not paint with Monet, they nevertheless were friends and often socialized together.

Rose returned permanently to the United States in 1912, and in 1914, he settled in Pasadena. He painted primarily in the southern part of the state until about 1917, at which time he began to spend summers in Carmel and Monterey. In 1921, he was disabled by a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to paint. Four years later, Rose died in 1925 in Pasadena.

Edgar Alwyn Payne (1882-1947) was born in Washburn, Missouri. Essentially a self-taught artist, Payne left home around 1902 at the age of nineteen and traveled for a number of years thought the South, the Midwest, and in Mexico. He settled in Chicago in 1907, where he enrolled in a portrait class at the Art Institute of Chicago. Dissatisfied with the class, he left after only two weeks. In 1909, he visited California and spent some time painting the Laguna Beach. He also visited San Francisco, where he met his future wife, artist Elsie Phillippa Palmer (1884-1971). On a visit to Santa Barbara in 1916, Payne took a side trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains and marveled at the beautiful, unspoiled beauty he encountered. This would be the first of countless trips to the Sierra, and he would earn a solid reputation as the “King of the Mountains.”

In the summer of 1922, the Paynes went to Europe, painting over a two-year period in France, Switzerland, and Italy. His favorite painting locations were the Alps and in the fishing ports of Chioggia, Italy, and Concarneau in Brittany, France. In Switzerland, Payne was irresistibly drawn to the majestic Alps. His painting of Mont Blanc entitled the Great White Peak received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in the spring of 1923.

In 1932, Edgar and Elsie separated but did not divorce. In 1946, he was diagnosed with cancer. Elsie reacted with love and immediacy. She closed her own studio and moved back in with Edgar. She nursed him through his final months until his death in Hollywood on April 8, 1947.

William Ritschel (1864-1949) was one of the most influential painters in Northern California. Born in Germany, he spent several years as a sailor before enrolling in art school in Munich. He came to the United State in 1894 and lived in Suffolk, New York, before coming to San Francisco in 1909, settling in Carmel in 1911. He is regarded as one of the most important painters of Monterey, with a decided penchant for nautical subjects.

Alson Skinner Clark (1876-1949) was born in Chicago and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later in New York with William Merritt Chase. In 1898, he went to Europe where he studied with James A. M. Whistler an Alphonse Mucha. In 1910, he visited Giverny where he painted with Frederick Frieseke and Guy Rose. In 1917, he joined the U.S Navy as an aerial photographer, and in 1920 moved to Pasadena.

Clark became one of the most important artists in Pasadena. In 1925, he supervised the decoration and painted the main curtain for the newly constructed Pasadena Playhouse. In 1926, he produced seven large paintings for the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles. In 1949, Clark suffered a heart attack while painting in his studio. A week later, he died in Pasadena, on March 23,1949.

Arthur Grover Rider (1886-1975) was born in Chicago. He studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. While there, he attended a lecture in 1911 by the noted Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla, who would become a great influence on his work. Between 1912 and 1914, Rider was in Paris, where he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiére, two private art schools favored by American art students. In about 1918, Rider began spending summers painting in Valencia, Spain. He did so for six or seven years, and it was that he met and befriended the elderly Sorolla.

From 1928-1931, Rider lived in Laguna Beach. He then moved to Los Angeles to work for the movie studios and remained there his entire career, working as a color artist and scenic painter for the 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His paintings are rich in color with intense, brilliant light. Many of his paintings made in Spain depict the activities of fisherman on the beach in Valencia and their boats with the single white billowing sail.

Alfred R. Mitchell (1888-1972) Alfred Mitchell came to California in 1908, settling in San Diego where, in 1913, he began to study at the San Diego Academy of Art under Maurice Braun.  His talents were acknowledged just two years later when he received a Silver Medal at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego.  Encouraged by Braun, Mitchell decided to return to his native Pennsylvania in 1916 and enroll in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he was influenced by Daniel Garber (1880-1958) and Edward Redfield (1869-1965).  In 1920 Mitchell was awarded the Cresson European Traveling Scholarship, which allowed him to spend the summer of 1921 in England, France, Italy, and Spain.

Upon completion of his studies, Mitchell returned to San Diego where he became an active member of the art community.  He played a leading role in the formative years of the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego and in 1929 was a founding member of the Associated Artists of San Diego.  He was also a member of the La Jolla Art Association.

Mitchell’s early works are impressionistic, reflecting his tutelage under Braun, Garber, and Redfield.  His later works, however, are more strongly realistic, reflecting his admiration for the work of Thomas Eakins (1844-1916).

Mitchell received numerous awards in addition to those previously mentioned.  Among them were the Edward Bok Philadelphia Prize, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1920; the Leisser Farnham Prize, San Diego, 1927; the Highest Award, Laguna Beach Art Association, 1940; and both a First Prize and Purchase Prize, San Diego Art Institute Annual, 1960.

Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was born in Philadelphia. At the age of two and a half, he contracted Scarlett fever, an illness that almost claimed his life and left him permanently deaf. In 1874, his family came to San Jose, California, and in 1879, at the age of eight, Redmond enrolled as a resident student in what was then called the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in Berkeley (now called the California School for the Deaf and located in Fremont). There, he studied with Theophilus Hope d’Estrella and later with the deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden. In 1887, Redmond started attending Saturday classes at the California School of Design in San Francisco.

Upon his graduation from the School for the Deaf in 1890, he was awarded funds to attend the California School of Design full-time, where he studied under Arthur Mathews. In 1893, another scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, rooming with Douglas Tilden. In 1895, his painting Martin d’Hiver (winter Morning) was accepted for display at the Paris Salon, a particular honor for an American art student.

In 1912, Redmond became a member of the Bohemian Club where he befriended Maynard Dixon, who painted his portrait in 1914. In 1915, Redmond performed pantomime in a short film entitled In an Art Studio, which was shown at the Bohemian Club. In 1917, Redmond and his family moved to Los Angeles with the intent of auditioning for the movies, which were silent at the time. He met Charlie Chaplin, and between 1918 and 1931, Redmond acted in seven Chaplin films.

Guy Rose (1867-1925) was born in San Gabriel, California, and grew up on Sunny Slope, the Rose family ranch. As a child, Rose was accidently shot in the chin during a hunting trip with his brothers in 1876. He recovered, but it is believed that he retained several lead pellets in his chin. For the rest of his life, he suffered chronic bouts of lead poisoning, aggravated by his use of oil paints, which at the time contained significant amounts of lead.

In 1886, Rose went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Design. There, in 1886 and 1887, he took classes with Emil Carlsen and Virgil Williams. In 1888, he went to Paris and enrolled at the Académie Julian.

In 1894, Rose experienced a serious bout of lead poisoning, which forced him to abandon oil painting for several years. He gradually regained his health and returned to oil painting around 1897. In 1904, Rose and his wife, Ethel, settled in Giverny, becoming members of the small American art colony there. Although Rose did not paint with Monet, they nevertheless were friends and often socialized together.

Rose returned permanently to the United States in 1912, and in 1914, he settled in Pasadena. He painted primarily in the southern part of the state until about 1917, at which time he began to spend summers in Carmel and Monterey. In 1921, he was disabled by a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to paint. Four years later, Rose died in 1925 in Pasadena.

Jack Wilkinson Smith (1873-1949) was born in Paterson, New Jersey. At the age of thirteen, he dropped out of high school, ran away to Chicago, and began his art career working as a “paint boy” in Chicago outdoor advertising company painting shop. It was there that Smith met artist George Gardner Symons (1862-1930). He also studied at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1906, Smith and his wife came to California, which he called “nature’s own paradise of scenic splendor and variety.” He lived in Alhambra, in an area known as “Artists’ Alley.” His neighbors there included sculptor Eli Harvey and painter Frank Tenney Johnson.

Smith was best known for his vivid and daring seascapes and mountain landscapes. His paintings of surf crashing among the rocks are unparalled. He died of a heart attack on January 8, 1949, in Monterey Park, California.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

Anna Hills (bio to come)

John Frost (1890-1937) was an exceptional painter who lived in Pasadena. Born in Philadelphia, one of two sons of noted American illustrator Arthur B. Frost (1851-1928), John Frost studied with his father and later in Paris at the Académie Julian. As a youth, he contracted tuberculosis and spent a good part of his life in and out of sanatoriums. A brilliant Impressionist painter, Frost was a close friend and sometime painting companion to Guy Rose (1867-1925). John Frost died of tuberculosis at the age of Forty -Seven, in Pasadena.

William Wendt (1865-1946) was born in Germany, came to Chicago in 1880, and worked in a commercial art film producing stock paintings under various names other than his own. In Chicago, he met George Gardner Symons (1862-1930) and the two became close painting companions. In 1906, he married sculptor Julia Bracken (1869-1942) and came to live in Los Angeles. He quickly became a leading figure in the Los Angeles art community and was a founding member of the California Art Club in 1909, serving as president from 1911 to 1914, and again from 1917 to 1918.

In 1918, he moved to the seaside village of Laguna Beach and was a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Although somewhat shy and reclusive, he was the town’s most important resident artist. To Wendt, nature was a divine manifestation and he viewed himself as nature’s faithful interpreter. Only rarely did he include people or animals in his landscapes.

John Marshall Gamble (1863-1957) was born in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1883, he enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design, taking classes with Virgil Williams and Emil Carlsen. Later, he continued his studies in Paris, at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi. He returned to San Francisco in 1893 to begin his art career. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 1906 was a complete disaster for Gamble. He lost the entire inventory of his work except for three paintings, which had been out with an art dealer. Wanting a new start, Gamble decided to move to Los Angeles to be near his close friend the artist Elmer Watchel (1864-1929). On his way, he stopped in Santa Barbara. The beauty and charm of the seaside village persuaded him to settle there. He was noted for his brilliant paintings of California wildflowers especially the Golden Poppy.

William Ritschel (1864-1949) was one of the most influential painters in Northern California. Born in Germany, he spent several years as a sailor before enrolling in art school in Munich. He came to the United State in 1894 and lived in Suffolk, New York, before coming to San Francisco in 1909, settling in Carmel in 1911. He is regarded as one of the most important painters of Monterey, with a decided penchant for nautical subjects.

Paul Dougherty (1877-1947) Trained as a lawyer, Dougherty passed the New York State Bar examination and practiced law briefly before deciding to study art.  He studied with Robert Henri at the Art Students League of New York.

After a study tour through Europe, Dougherty returned to America in 1905 and settled on the coast of Maine.  There he focused on the heroic coastline and painted magnificent views of the rocks and waves of that region.  By 1907 his reputation as an artist was fixed when he was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Design.

Dougherty is known for his majestic views of the coast, often showing tremendous waves battering against the rocks.  In his later years, he began to seek a change of climate.  In 1928 he made the first of several visits to Arizona.  In 1931 he moved to the Monterey area and continued to paint the sea, but now the Pacific Ocean.  This coast-to-coast relocation sometimes makes it difficult to differentiate his eastern seascapes from his California works.  Continued health concerns caused him to spend winters in Palm Springs, where he died.

Angel De Service Espoy (1879-1963) was born in Villa Neuva, Spain, in 1879, where he studied with Joaquin Sorolla. Before arriving in San Francisco (by way of the Philippines, Cuba, and New York) in 1914. Espoy had worked in the merchant marines, which gave him a strong working background for the clipper ships he would later paint.

In San Francisco, Espoy spent seven years doing commercial work before moving to Los Angeles where he was able to support himself with the sale of his paintings. Occasionally painting in the style of Sorolla, Espoy is best known for his landscapes of California’s rolling landscapes with wildflowers.

Edgar Alwyn Payne (1882-1947) was born in Washburn, Missouri. Essentially a self-taught artist, Payne left home around 1902 at the age of nineteen and traveled for a number of years thought the South, the Midwest, and in Mexico. He settled in Chicago in 1907, where he enrolled in a portrait class at the Art Institute of Chicago. Dissatisfied with the class, he left after only two weeks. In 1909, he visited California and spent some time painting the Laguna Beach. He also visited San Francisco, where he met his future wife, artist Elsie Phillippa Palmer (1884-1971). On a visit to Santa Barbara in 1916, Payne took a side trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains and marveled at the beautiful, unspoiled beauty he encountered. This would be the first of countless trips to the Sierra, and he would earn a solid reputation as the “King of the Mountains.”

In the summer of 1922, the Paynes went to Europe, painting over a two-year period in France, Switzerland, and Italy. His favorite painting locations were the Alps and in the fishing ports of Chioggia, Italy, and Concarneau in Brittany, France. In Switzerland, Payne was irresistibly drawn to the majestic Alps. His painting of Mont Blanc entitled the Great White Peak received an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in the spring of 1923.

In 1932, Edgar and Elsie separated but did not divorce. In 1946, he was diagnosed with cancer. Elsie reacted with love and immediacy. She closed her own studio and moved back in with Edgar. She nursed him through his final months until his death in Hollywood on April 8, 1947.

John Marshall Gamble (1863-1957) was born in Morristown, New Jersey. In 1883, he enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design, taking classes with Virgil Williams and Emil Carlsen. Later, he continued his studies in Paris, at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi. He returned to San Francisco in 1893 to begin his art career. The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of April 1906 was a complete disaster for Gamble. He lost the entire inventory of his work except for three paintings, which had been out with an art dealer. Wanting a new start, Gamble decided to move to Los Angeles to be near his close friend the artist Elmer Watchel (1864-1929). On his way, he stopped in Santa Barbara. The beauty and charm of the seaside village persuaded him to settle there. He was noted for his brilliant paintings of California wildflowers especially the Golden Poppy.

Maurice Braun (1877-1941) was born in Hungary and came to the United States at the age of four. He studied painting at the National Academy in New York and with William Merritt Chase. He established himself as a portrait painter. In 1909, he moved to San Diego, established an art school, and became a landscape painter. Although he lived in San Diego, Braun continued to exhibit in the East. Between 1911 and 1915, he exhibited annually at the National Academy in New York as well as in annual exhibitions of contemporary American painting at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts in Philadelphia, and the Detroit Museum of Art. He is regarded as the most important of the early San Diego artist.

Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was born in Philadelphia. At the age of two and a half, he contracted Scarlett fever, an illness that almost claimed his life and left him permanently deaf. In 1874, his family came to San Jose, California, and in 1879, at the age of eight, Redmond enrolled as a resident student in what was then called the California State Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind in Berkeley (now called the California School for the Deaf and located in Fremont). There, he studied with Theophilus Hope d’Estrella and later with the deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden. In 1887, Redmond started attending Saturday classes at the California School of Design in San Francisco.

Upon his graduation from the School for the Deaf in 1890, he was awarded funds to attend the California School of Design full-time, where he studied under Arthur Mathews. In 1893, another scholarship allowed him to travel to Paris, where he attended the Académie Julian, rooming with Douglas Tilden. In 1895, his painting Martin d’Hiver (winter Morning) was accepted for display at the Paris Salon, a particular honor for an American art student.

In 1912, Redmond became a member of the Bohemian Club where he befriended Maynard Dixon, who painted his portrait in 1914. In 1915, Redmond performed pantomime in a short film entitled In an Art Studio, which was shown at the Bohemian Club. In 1917, Redmond and his family moved to Los Angeles with the intent of auditioning for the movies, which were silent at the time. He met Charlie Chaplin, and between 1918 and 1931, Redmond acted in seven Chaplin films.

John Frost (1890-1937) was an exceptional painter who lived in Pasadena. Born in Philadelphia, one of two sons of noted American illustrator Arthur B. Frost (1851-1928), John Frost studied with his father and later in Paris at the Académie Julian. As a youth, he contracted tuberculosis and spent a good part of his life in and out of sanatoriums. A brilliant Impressionist painter, Frost was a close friend and sometime painting companion to Guy Rose (1867-1925). John Frost died of tuberculosis at the age of Forty -Seven, in Pasadena.

Elmer Wachtel (1864-1929) was born in Baltimore. In 1882, he came to Southern California to live with his older brother John, who had married Nina Rose, the sister of Guy Rose, in 1879. John was manager of the Rose family ranch, Sunny Slope, in the San Gabriel Valley, just north of Los Angeles. A proficient violinist, Elmer Wachtel became first violin of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Los Angeles in 1888. He became active in local art circles, which included John Gutzon Borglum and J. Bond Francisco. With several other artists, they founded the Los Angeles Art Association in the late 1880s.

Around 1900, Wachtel went to Europe, studying at the Lambeth School of Art in London, and visiting and painting with his friend Gutzon Borglum, who was living there. Wachtel returned to Los Angeles and, within a few years, had established a reputation as an accomplished landscape artist. Many of his mature works show a more decorative and lyrical style, very reminiscent of Arthur Mathews. Wachtel and his wife, Marion Kavanagh Wachtel (1870-1954), spent the next twenty-five years as inseparable painting companions, he working in oils and she in watercolor. They traveled throughout California, in the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, and in Mexico. Wachtel died on August 31, 1929, while on a painting trip in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Raymond Nott (1888-1948) Pastelist, painter. Born in Kirksville, MO on April 20, 1887. After his parents separated, Raymond’s mother operated a chain of variety stores in the Black Hills where he was raised. Early in life he attended a military school and studied at the AIC. He later was associated with the Roycroft Studios in New York where his mother ran a weaving school. After joining the Navy at the outbreak of WWI, he was sent to San Diego, CA. Upon discharge, he settled in Los Angeles where his paintings were handled by the Bernay Gallery. Working in pastel and oil, he produced mountain landscapes until his death in Los Angeles on Dec. 6, 1948.