Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey

Canyon-de-Chelly WEB Edgar Payne, Sunset, Canyon de Chelly, 1916. Oil on canvas, 28 x 34 in. Mark C. Pigott Collection.

FEBRUARY 11 - MAY 6, 2012

One of the most gifted of California's early plein-air artists, Edgar Payne utilized the brushwork and colors of Impressionism, yet his powerful landscape paintings departed from the genteel refinement of most Impressionist painters. Payne's works are imbued with an internal force and active dynamism achieved through majestic, vital landscape subjects. This exhibition of more than 80 signature paintings and drawings, as well as additional objects from the artist's studio, traces Payne's artistic development as he traveled the world in search of magnificent settings: the Southern and Central California coast, the Sierra, the Swiss Alps, the harbors and waterways of France and Italy, and the desert Southwest. The Crocker's Chief Curator and Associate Director, Scott A. Shields, Ph.D., curated this exhibition, which was organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art, and is the lead author for the exhibition catalogue.

Exhibition-Related Programing

More Exhibition Images

Edgar Payne, Along the Riviera, Menton, France, 1922. Oil on canvas, 29 x 29 in., Collection of James Taylor and Gary Conway.
Edgar Payne, Blue Canyon, after 1929. Oil on canvas, 34 x 34 in., Private collection.
Edgar Payne, Breton Tuna Boats, Concarneau, France, c. 1924. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in., Private collection.
Edgar Payne, Canyon de Chelly, n.d. Oil on canvas, 28 x 34 in., Private collection.
Edgar Payne, Sycamore in Autumn, Orange County Park, c. 1917. Oil on board, 32 x 42 in., Private collection, Courtesy of The Irvine Museum.
Edgar Payne, The Rendezvous (Santa Cruz Island, CA), 1915. Oil on canvas, 33 x 42 in., Private collection.
Edgar Payne, Untitled [Eucalyptus Landscape, California], n.d. Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in.,Private collection.