Lot 53
John Frost(1890-1937)The Pool at Sundown 24 x 28in framed 31 x 35in
13 October 2020, 13:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$275,075 inc. premium
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Aaron Bastian
Director
Kathy Wong
Senior Director, Fine Art
John Frost (1890-1937)
The Pool at Sundown
signed and dated 'John Frost '23' (lower right)
oil on panel
24 x 28in
framed 31 x 35in
Painted in 1923.
signed and dated 'John Frost '23' (lower right)
oil on panel
24 x 28in
framed 31 x 35in
Painted in 1923.
Footnotes
Provenance
Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles, California.
Private collection, Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Sale, Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco & Los Angeles, California Paintings, March 7, 1993, sale 5370D, lot 150.
Private collection, Laguna Beach, California.
Joan Irvine Smith Fine Arts, Inc., Irvine, California.
Exhibited
Athens, Georgia Museum of Art, California Impressionists, July 6 - September 1, 1996, no. 19, traveling exhibition.
Irvine, The Irvine Museum, All Things Bright & Beautiful, Paintings from The Irvine Museum, national touring exhibition, 2008-2009.
Irvine, The Irvine Museum, All Things Bright & Beautiful, The National Tour Comes Home, November 10, 2010 – June 11, 2011.
Irvine, The Irvine Museum, Autumn's Glory, Winter's Grace, September 29, 2012 – January 17, 2013.
Irvine, The Irvine Museum, California Impressionism: Selections from the Irvine Museum, September 28, 2013 – January 9, 2014.
Huntington Beach Art Center, California Impressionism: Plein Air Painting, Past and Present, May 2 - July 4, 2015.
Irvine, The Irvine Museum, The Nature of Water: Our Most Precious Resource, January 30 – June 16, 2016.
Literature
S. Landauer, California Impressionists, Irvine, The Irvine Museum, 1996, pp. cover, 88, 89, illustrated in color.
W. H. Gerdts, All Things Bright & Beautiful, California Paintings from The Irvine Museum, Irvine, 1998, pl. 57, p. 116, 172, illustrated in color.
P. Kovinick, John Frost, A Quiet Mastery, Irvine, 2013, pp. 2, 3, 14, 184, 224, illustrated in color.
A copy of John Frost: A Quiet Mastery by Phil Kovinick, published by The Irvine Museum, accompanies the lot.
John Frost was born into a family of artists, yet he carved his own path out West. His father was A. B. Frost, one of the giants from the Golden Age of American Illustration. John's artistic training began under his father until the family's move to Paris in 1907. He entered the Académie Julian, and a year later with his family, he moved to Giverny, France. Undoubtedly, Monet's influence and his association with other American Impressionist painters, such as Richard Miller and Guy Rose (a close family friend), shaped the direction his work would take. Unfortunately, in 1910, the artist suffered from tuberculosis and was placed in a Swiss sanatorium for three years to recover. Drawn for health reasons to the dry and warm climate of the West, he made his first trip out in 1916, visiting California and Arizona. In 1919, as a newly married man, he and his wife settled in Pasadena, where they made their home for most of his career.
John Frost was particularly inspired by the California desert landscape. Between trips to Palm Springs, he visited the Mojave Desert in the summer and early fall. The ranges around this desert valley floor provided an excellent panoramic view for his sketch pad — sketches that were later translated into oil paintings.
In All Things Bright & Beautiful, Jean Stern identifies the scene of the present work as along the river in the Owens Valley along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is characterized by areas of cottonwood trees which offer a respite from the otherwise hot and dry Mohave Desert region.
