Aaron Bastian
Director
Lot 66
Edgar Payne(1883-1947)Sierra Lake 40 x 50in overall: 52 1/2 x 62 1/2in
20 – 21 November 2017, 18:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$95,000 inc. premium
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California and Western Art (US)
Kathy Wong
Senior Director, Fine Art
Edgar Payne (1883-1947)
Sierra Lake
signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left)
oil on canvas
40 x 50in
overall: 52 1/2 x 62 1/2in
signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left)
oil on canvas
40 x 50in
overall: 52 1/2 x 62 1/2in
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Southern California.
Edgar Payne was fully enthralled by the solitude and grandeur of California's Eastern Sierra mountains by the 1920's. In fact, much of California by this time was encouraged to get out into the open and enjoy nature and the great outdoors. For many, there was a strong feeling that industrialization and an increasing population was rapidly encroaching on nature and a worry that these pristine areas were threatened. Payne's early compositions are largely devoid of people, as he purposely strove to portray the majesty of nature with the absence of man's presence.
Payne travelled extensively throughout his career, seeking inspiration from a variety of scenic locations. Between 1922 and 1924, he journeyed to Europe and completed a series of impressive seascapes and alpine scenes, which have been historically deemed the start of his mature work.
Upon his return from Europe in 1924, Payne began a body of work for which he is best known, paintings of California's Eastern Sierras. Over a period of twenty years, Payne repeatedly found inspiration in the tranquil forests and awe-inspiring peaks of the High Sierras. Anyone that has spent time in the Sierras knows firsthand the enormity and magnificence of these mountains. Nowhere else in America do mountains and glaciers populate the landscape so abundantly, most with idyllic lakes filled with glacial runoff beneath them and light and shadow in all directions.
In Sierra Lake, Payne uses the afternoon sun to divide the composition diagonally between brilliant light and moody shadow. The result is a familiar scene for those fortunate enough to occupy such a vantage point. Broad brush strokes of color create an interplay between the blues and browns of the exposed rock faces alongside the brilliant white of the glaciers that meander downward. Below that the runoff of 'glacial flour' tints the lakes with a brilliant turquoise unique to the high country. Although Payne painted numerous mountains in the Sierras, from multiple points of view, each painting manages to hold its own unique perspective of this grand locale. The sheer scale of Sierra Lake makes one feel that they could virtually step in to the scene, as if standing by a window to nature.
