John Frost

(1890-1937)

Goats on a Hillside, Pomona 26 x 30in overall: 33 x 36 3/4in

Footnotes

Provenance
Private collection, Southern California.

Literature
Phil Kovinick, John Frost, A Quiet Mastery, Irvine, 2013, p. 95, half-page color illustration.

John 'Jack' Frost, as Los Angeles Times art critic wrote, came "by his talent for art by the 'Divine Right' of inheritance." The son of legendary illustrator, Arthur Burdett "Bo" Frost and Emily Phillips, an extremely talented artist in her own right, he received his early teaching from his parents while in Morristown, New Jersey. Later his skills were enhanced when the family went to Europe in 1906, where he studied at the Acadèmie Julian in Paris with Jean Paul Laurens, and with Richard E. Miller in Paris and in Giverny, the mecca of Impressionism. He also came to know and visit Claude Monet. Unfortunately, in the midst of this rich experience, he contacted tuberculosis in 1911 and was admitted to the Davos Platz Sanatorium in the Swiss Alps, where he remained until the family (his brother, A.B. Frost, Jr., stayed behind in Paris) returned to the United States in 1914.

During the next few years, Jack divided his time between the family home in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and a studio in New York City, where he entered the field of illustration, much to the disappointment of his father. Then, in 1916, he became fascinated by tales of the American West, and traveled there twice to experience and sketch the vast pictorial vistas and lifestyles of the people of Arizona and California in rural settings. He also embarked on a two-month motor and pack horse trek with Guy and Ethel Rose to the Eastern Sierra, Mammoth and Convict Lakes, stopping at various points to paint and fish along the way. While he was traveling, his parents moved to Madison, New Jersey, and Jack joined them upon his return in early 1917, to continue his career as an illustrator. Sadly, in December of 1917 the family learned of the death of his brother, Arthur, Jr., who was gaining recognition as a fine modernist painter. The Frosts relocated to Morristown in the following year.

In need of a drier climate, Jack returned California in 1919, staying in Palm Springs; his parents joined him in December. There, in 1920, he met an old friend from Giverny, Alson Skinner Clark. In the same year, Bo rented a house in Pasadena, where Clark also settled. Subsequently, from that time Jack and Clark went on numerous sketching jaunts, until Jack's marriage to Priscilla Morgrage in 1922.

Jack enjoyed his most creative years as a painter during the 1920s. In 1922, he was awarded an honorable mention at the Southwest Museum's first Competitive Exhibition of California Artists, featuring many of the state's most notable painters. In the following year, he received first place for landscapes at the event. Among countless other achievements during the decade, he was represented in three traveling exhibitions and two one-person shows, and received a commission to paint murals for the prestigious Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, owned by Edward Doheny, Jr. Frost had a one-person exhibition at Stendahl Galleries in the Ambassador Hotel in 1924. A painting in the 1924 show is described as 'Goats on a Hill'. It is possible that this is the same painting, but three separate paintings, exhibited in 1924 and 1925 have very similar titles.

Goats on a Hillside, Pomona is a unique departure from many of Frost's work by 1924. Many of his San Gabriel region and desert paintings are devoid of figures or animals, as the focal point becomes the land and the light. In this painting, the artist tries his hand at capturing a more complicated scene. Close attention is paid to each animal, each shadow and each collection of color combinations along their bodies. A simple hillside is filled with a depth and texture thanks to the arrival of the hungry goats, while puffy clouds silently pass overhead. This is a strong example of Frost's talents at the peak of his career and his ability to vary his compositions and broaden his oeuvre in fresh directions.