Note
Granville Redmond
(b. 1871, Philadelphia – d.1935, Los Angeles)
LATE AFTERNOON, CALIFORNIA FOOTHILLS
c. 1910, Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 inches
Jonathan Club collection
Deaf from the age of three from scarlet fever, Redmond and his family moved to San Jose, California in 1879 so he could attend the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley. While there, his teacher, who was a painter and photographer, encouraged Redmond’s artistic abilities. Redmond pursued further art study at the San Francisco School of Design and won a scholarship to Paris at Academie Julian. One of his paintings was accepted in the Paris Salon.
After a period of residence in various locations throughout California, Redmond returned to Los Angeles in 1917, where he sought work as a pantomime in silent films. Befriended by Charlie Chaplin, Redmond was provided a painting studio on the movie lot and had several minor roles in Chaplin films such as "City Lights" and "A Dog’s Life." In between his work as an actor, Redmond devoted his time to painting. He often painted and sketched in Laguna Beach, and in 1918 he was a charter member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Redmond continued to paint landscapes until his death in 1935.
"Late Afternoon" is one of Redmond's more mature works. The brushwork is Impressionist--that is, broken and impasto. However, the artist still keeps to the Barbizon lighting device of a shadowed foreground with illuminated mountains in the background. California artists started incorporating Impressionist traits into their paintings around 1909, and this may give an approximate date to this work. Compositionally, this work is the quintessential Southern California panorama of rolling foothills leading to snow-capped mountains. By the 1920's Redmond had gone to Impressionism completely, with paintings of poppy landscapes in bright, pretty colors.