Influential Artists: The Art of Edgar Payne

I DID NOT WRITE THIS
Edgar Alwin Payne American impressionist painter grew up in Missouri, but spent the most productive part of his career captivated by the majestic scenery of the West. Primarily self taught, he did study briefly at the Art Institute of Chicago and began his career designing and painting scenery for the stage and murals for homes and theaters. Crisscrossing the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe, the American West appealed most.
Lured by the quality of light and freedom to paint open spaces and possessing a reverence for nature, he especially loved the mountains and frequently took packhorses into the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to paint and sketch the upper lakes. Recognized as one of California’s leading landscape artists, Payne earned the respect of his peers and critics for his Impressionistic landscapes painted in plein-air. His works are in the permanent collections of the Laguna Art Museum, Chicago Art Museum, Southwest Museum of Los Angeles, Pasadena Art Institute, and the National Academy of Design.
At the age of fourteen, Edgar Payne left his childhood home of Washburn, Missouri, to travel the United States and Mexico. Payne survived by performing odd jobs including painting signs, stage sets, and houses. Payne, who had a fifth grade education, considered himself to be primarily self-taught.
However, he received art training at the Payne-Morris Studio in Dallas, Texas, and at the Art Institute of Chicago, eventually becoming one of the primary plein-air landscape painters in the early 20th century. Beginning in 1910, Payne found employment painting murals in civic buildings, courthouses, and theatres throughout the Midwest.
He married fellow artist, Elsie Palmer, in 1912, and in 1915 Payne moved with his family to Santa Barbara, California where he began to focus more of his time on easel painting. Payne relocated to Laguna Beach, California, in 1919 where he became the founding president of the Laguna Beach Art Association, which is presently known as the Laguna Beach Art Museum.
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[@ronschlorff7089]

Edgar Payne is my hero, he painted in the Sierra Nevada in California and the southwest where I live today near Tucson. I have his book on composition, and all serious students of landscape painting should have it and read it often. It's full of helpful gems that will improve your paintings. He worked hard all his life, and only after his death, did he really achieve a great following for his art, especially among traditional landscape artists of today, as people in the 20th century longed for beautiful art again, having "suffered" through the "modern art" period, which still continues today, of course. His work is an inspiration for those seeking beauty in nature, in an often-ugly world otherwise, and are willing to go to the ends of the earth to find it.
I actually painted for week, with an artist friend from Reno, staying at one of Payne's old camp sites, he used in the 30's and 40's, at 5th Lake, in the Sierra, at 10,000 feet elevation, a few miles south of the small town of Bishop, along hwy 395, in an area called Little Lakes Valley. Many of these Edgar Payne works, shown here, are depictions from that very area, as he worked there en plein air, and later often used his field sketches for larger studio works, such as those with the multipeaked mountains you see. I did make several oil sketches in the area, in 2005, and later a few larger paintings from those as well. I'm sometimes asked, "where is 5th Lake?", and I say, "it's just between 4th Lake and 6th Lake", LOL, which I've been to those as well, and also painted there. The whole area is wonderful for mule packing into to paint with a friend or friends for a week, to just eat, sleep, and paint!! : )

[@martimajor4766]

I’ve lived and been to these places. Am so grateful for you posting these images which are my memories.

[@darcymanwaring1489]

Thank you,the art is so beautiful with the music it brought tears to my eyes. The way life should be.

[@judyheim6998]

Please keep doing these. They are fantastic.

[@robhead22]

Great to see !! Thank you!

[@consueloyoung4484]

Can’t get enough of this incredible work of art!❤

[@DaneSellersStudio]

Me too! Edgar's work is jaw-dropping!

[@jeff.j759]

👍👍👍🌹🌹

[@danthomas6587]

Jack the dripper.