Payne, Edgar (1883-1947).

Desert Skies by Edgar Payne (1883-1947) 28" x 34", Oil/Canvas, Signed Lower Right Est.: $250,000 - $350,000 Sold by John Moran Auctioneers for $316,250 on 2/20/2007

Born in Washburn, MO on March 1, 1883. Payne left home at age 14 and found work painting houses, stage sets, and signs. His travels took him through the Ozarks and into Mexico.

Except for a brief period at the AIC, he remained a self-taught artist. On his first visit to California in 1909 he spent several months painting in Laguna Beach before visiting San Francisco.

While in San Francisco he met artist Elsie Palmer whom he married in Chicago in 1912. In 1917 he returned to Glendale, CA with a commission from Chicago's Congress Hotel for a mural of 11,000 square yards of muslin which was accomplished with the help of other local artists and installed shortly thereafter.

In 1918 the Paynes established a home and studio in Laguna Beach where he organized and became the first president of the local art association. He continued painting and exhibiting in Los Angeles and Laguna until 1922 when he and Elsie began a two-year painting tour of Europe.

During the next eight years their winter residence was mainly in and around NYC. They traveled from coast to coast in the U.S. until 1932 when they returned to Hollywood and the following year separated.

Payne is internationally famous for his canvases depicting Indians riding through desert canyons and landscapes of the Sierra Nevada.

He produced a color motion picture called "Sierra Journey" and Payne Lake in the High Sierra is named for him.

He died in Hollywood, CA on April 8, 1947.

Member: Salmagundi Club (NYC); Calif. Art Club (pres. 1926); Laguna Beach AA; Chicago Society of Artists; AAPL; Carmel AA.

Exh: Palette & Chisel Club, 1913; Calif. State Fairs, 1917, 1918 (medals); Ten Painters of LA, 1919; LACMA, 1919 (solo); AIC, 1920 (prize); Southwest Museum (LA), 1921 (prize); Paris Salon, 1923; NAD, 1929 (prize); GGIE, 1939; Calif. Art Club, 1947 (prize).

In: NAD; NMAA; AIC; Orange Co. (CA) Museum; Irvine (CA) Museum; Chicago Museum; Indianapolis Museum; Bancroft Library (UC Berkeley); Pasadena Art Inst.; Pasadena Museum; Southwest Museum (LA); Springville (UT) Museum; Fleischer Museum (Scottsdale); Oakland Museum.

Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
The Paynes: Edgar & Elsie by Rena N. Coen; Plein Air Painters (Ruth Westphal); Design 1910; Artists of the American West (Doris Dawdy); Artists of the American West (Samuels); American Art Annual 1919-33; Southern California Artists (Nancy Moure); Los Angeles Painters of the 1920s; Who's Who in American Art 1936-41; NY Times, 4-9-1947 (obituary).