
Aaron Bastian
Director
Sold for US$48,255 inc. premium
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Provenance
George Stern Fine Arts, Encino, California.
The Fieldstone Collection of California Art, Newport Beach, California.
The Redfern Gallery, Laguna Beach, California.
Property from the June Barrymore Ash Trust, Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Literature
Martin E. Petersen, Second Nature: Four Early San Diego Landscape Painters, San Diego Museum of Art, 1991, p. 173, pl. 60, illustrated.
The El Capitan Dam is an embankment dam on the San Diego River. The dam forms the 112,800-acre-foot El Capitan Reservoir and serves mainly to supply water to the city of San Diego as well as providing flood control. The dam is connected to the San Diego municipal water system via the El Capitan Pipeline, which extends approximately 30 miles to the city. It is the second largest storage facility in San Diego's water supply system, after San Vicente Dam. It was constructed in 1932-1934. Mitchell painted a second, smaller 16 x 20 inch version of this painting before completing this larger, finished version. This painting was probably commissioned by the San Diego County Water Authority.