Granville Redmond (1871-1935)

Painters had been settling in California since the second half of the 19th century but it was not until the early part of the 20th century that the identity of California painting firmly defined itself as a major movement in the history of American art. The distinctive topography and unique colors of the California scenery immediately inspired artists and compelled them to work directly from nature as demonstrated by the European Impressionists of a previous generation.

Granville Redmond was a leader of this new school of California Impressionism and, like many of his contemporaries, carried with him a sensitivity to this new style of painting grounded in formal academic training received back East and in Europe. Redmond was raised in Northern California and despite an early bout with scarlet fever that left him deaf, he quickly demonstrated an aptitude for fine art and received a scholarship to study abroad at the Académie Julian in Paris. Redmond returned to California in 1898 and settled in Los Angeles where his tonalist style of painting soon developed into a brighter palette that was inspired by the exceptional California landscape, as demonstrated in the present work, Snow Capp Spring.