Hanson Puthuff lived in the shadow of the majestic San Gabriel Mountains. "Clouds of Autumn" is emblematic of the highly atmospheric views of the foothills for which he was known. This soft, subtle painting was done in the fall, when the rain has began to turn the grasses green once again. The morning mist has enveloped the mountains in the veil of atmosphere, giving the entire composition a soft, warm glow. Puthuff had one of the longest, most distinguished careers in the annals of California art, arriving in the Southland in 1903 and painting professionally for more than sixty years. He was one of the founders of the California Art Club and his works are included in virtually every major collection of California Impressionism.   Hanson Duvall Puthuff (1875- 1972) "Clouds of Autumn" 30" x 40" Oil on CCanvas c 1925 SOLD             In the first three decades of the past century, Paul Dougherty was considered one of America's finest marine painters. While his scenes of the rugged Maine coast and Carmel made him famous, he was equally adept at landscape paintings. "Evening Calm" is one of Dougherty's boldest works. Painted with large vigorous brush strokes, it captures the monumentality of the mountains. Seen late in the day, the high mountain peaks are rendered in dramatic blue, white and purple hues with the heavy impasto giving the painting an almost sculptural quality. Paul Dougherty was born in Brooklyn and abandoned a career in law for painting, his first love. He studied at the famous Art Students League and all over Europe, finally settling on the dramatic coast of Maine before moving west, first to Arizona for health reasons and finally to Carmel in 1931. Dougherty won countless major honors at prestigious exhibitions and his paintings are in the collection of many major American and European museums. "Evening Calm" has an extensive exhibition history. Paul Dougherty, N.A. (1877-1947) "Evening Calm" 25" x 36" Oil on Canvas c 1906 SOLD           “Snow on the San Gabriels” is a dramatic work by Paul Lauritz. This almost square composition was painted during the Southern California winter when sunlight still warms the Los Angeles basin, in vivid contrast to the peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains, which are often enshrouded in snow. The masculine style, painterly brush work and heavy impasto found in “Snow on the San Gabriels” mark this work as one from Lauritz’ best period, between 1920 and the early 1930s. Paul Lauritz was born in Norway but moved to Canada when he was sixteen. He also lived in Portland and Vancouver before heading for Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Lauritz arrived in Los Angeles in 1919 and immediately became one of the best known Plein-Air painters. During his long career as an artist and artistic organizer, his work went through several dramatic stylistic shifts and so his early paintings of Southern California and High Sierra subjects have always been the most sought after. Paul Lauritz "Snow on the San Gabriels" 24" x 28" Oil on Canvas c 1928 SOLD   While Maurice Braun is best known for his scenes of inland San Diego County, he also painted frequently along the coast - Mission Bay, Point Loma, Coronado and La Jolla. This work, painted off the La Jolla coast, is a conventional yet beautifully painted marine that accurately records the action of the waves and the play of the intense sunlight on the water. Maurice Braun "Rocky Shore" 25" x 30 " Oil on Canvas c 1928 SOLD   "Opalescence" is a rare marine oil painting by the California painter Theodore Lukits, who did virtually all of his plein-air work in pastel for practical and aesthetic reasons. Between 1921 and the early 1930s, Lukits did about one thousand pastels on locations throughout California. Because he painted dozens of formal portraits, other figurative works, still lifes and murals in addition to his landscapes, few of Lukits' plein-air pastels were worked up into larger oils. "Opalescence" is one of his rare larger marines. Clearly the work of a painter influenced by 19th-century Romanticism, this moody work shows the sun setting over a green sea. Executed on the tempered masonite panel that Lukits favored for many of his works, this painting is an excellent example of Lukits' style, which was referred to by critic Harry Muir Kurtzworth as "Tonal Impressionism." Theodore Lukits "Opalescence" 24" x 30" Oil on Canvas 1928 SOLD   Emil Carlsen's "Woods" is one of the Danish-born painter's most outstanding landscapes. Like most of the artist's major landscapes and marine paintings, it is a quiet, contemplative work with the paint applied in a very deliberate manner over a vigorously painted ground. In this work Carlsen has depicted several large birch trees in the immediate foreground against a backdrop of a dense wood. An azure sky is seen above and between the branches of the birches. The painting is softly and delicately painted and it gives the viewer a sense of peaceful calm. For almost sixty years, Carlsen was one of America's most beloved and well-respected painters, and his works are held by major museums across American - from the De Young in San Francisco to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.       Soren-Emil Carlsen, N.A. (1853-1932) "Woods" 34" x 28 " Oil on Canvas 1902 SOLD   "Desert Patterns" is one of the California Impressionist Sam Hyde Harris' finest desert works. It was included in the major retrospective exhibition of Harris' work that the Peterson Galleries mounted in 1980 as part of the Los Angeles Bicentennial. It was also reproduced in Jean Sternâ's color catalog that accompanied the exhibition. "Desert Patterns" is a very intimate work, focusing on the simple arrangement of desert foliage and a dry creek bed that he found in nature. Because this work was painted in the springtime, it is more colorful than most desert compositions. Harris is best known for his ability to convey an atmospheric quality in his work, and in this painting the mountains that are just visible in the background almost disappear in the shimmering desert heat.       Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977) "Desert Patterns" 30" x 36" Oil on Canvas c 1935 SOLD               Paul Dougherty's "Coast of Cornwall" is one of his most dramatic works. It depicts the rugged English coastline with its seemingly ever-present veil of clouds. The forground is dominated by the rugged cliffs, with the rocky outcroppings reflecting the light of the sun. A large, flat coastal plain divides the composition with the dense clouds hanging just overhead. On the right of the painting whitecaps break over the reefs and rocks of the English coast. The entire painting is rendered in the masculine manner that made Dougherty one of America's best known painters in the years after the turn of the century. "Coast of Cornwall" is a bold, vigorous work that reflects its author's sublime vision of where the land and sea meet. Paul Dougherty, N.A. (1877-1947) "Coast of Cornwall" 36" x 36" Oil on Canvas c 1915 SOLD           Maurice Braun's "Evening Light" is a moody evocation of the artist's best known subject - the arid, hilly country just east of San Diego. This work, painted at the end of a long, hot day, is more dramatic than most of Braun's inland scenes. Because of the stronger contrast between the areas lit by the "Golden Hour" sun and the blue shades of the late afternoon it stands out as one of "The Dean of San Diego Painter's" strongest works. Maurice Braun "Evening Light" 36 " x 42" Oil on Canvas c 1920 SOLD                     While Granville Redmond is best known for his impressionist scenes of blooming poppies in the Southern California foothills, he began his career as a "Tonalist." This moody, Barbizan-influenced depiction of the setting sun was painted in between his years of residence in the Southland. This intimate work, while so subtle that it is difficult to reproduce - is one of Redmond's most evocative Tonalist paintings.       page 3 Granville Redmond "Sunset Through the Trees" 25" x 36" Oil on Canvas c 1910 SOLD