Rafael Osona's Annual Auction Catalog Rafael Osona Annual Auction 2018 | Page 65

159. EDGAR PAYNE (AMERICAN 1883-1947) OIL ON CANVAS “FISHING BOATS,” signed lower right Edgar Payne, in
gold leaf molded frame. 24 in. x 30 in.
Edgar Payne known for his Western landscapes and waterscape paintings was born in Washburn, Missouri in 1883. Leaving home
at the age of fourteen, Edgar Payne made his way to Chicago working as a house, sign and set painter. Once in Chicago, he became
well-known as a set painter and soon was commissioned to paint an 11,000 square foot mural for the Congress Hotel. Payne enrolled
in classes at the Art Institute of Chicago but soon dropped out. He joined the Chicago Society of Artists and the Palette and Chisel
Club, and began traveling around the country for new subject matter to paint. On his first visit to California in 1909, he spent several
months painting in Laguna Beach before visiting San Francisco where he met artist Elsie Palmer, whom he married in Chicago in
1912. The Payne’s settled in Laguna Beach, California, and he became an important part of the art community there, being named the
first President of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Payne is internationally renowned for his depictions of the High Sierras, Indians
riding through desert canyons, landscapes of the Sierra Nevada and French and Italian boat scenes as well as authoring a book titled
Composition of Outdoor Painting.
His works are held in the collections of the National Academy of Design; New Mexico Art Association; Art Institute of Chicago;
Orange County Museum of Art; Irvine Museum; Chicago Museum; Indianapolis Museum; Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley; Pasadena
Art Institute; Pasadena Museum; Southwest Museum; Fleischer Museum of Art; Phoenix Art Museum; Springville Museum of Art;
Brigham Young University Fine Arts Collection; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
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