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Granville Redmond, Oil on Canvas

Currency:USD Category:Art / General - Paintings Start Price:50,000.00 USD Estimated At:100,000.00 - 150,000.00 USD
Granville Redmond, Oil on Canvas
All condition reports can be viewed at www.AuctionInSantaFe.com/cr2011.pdf
Granville Richard Seymour Redmond (1871-1935), Spirits of the Sunrise, 1903, 42” x 50” oil on canvas, Signed lower left, (est. $100,000-150,000)

Granville Redmond was born in Philadelphia and at the tender age of two and one half, developed scarlet fever, which rendered him deaf and mute for the remainder of his life. He attended the California School of the Deaf in Berkeley where his (also deaf) teacher recognized his artistic talent and influenced him to further his education in Art, which was continued under masters such as Arthur Mathews, Amedee Joullion, Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant.

Spirits of the Sunrise was executed by Redmond in 1903 as a work commissioned by the Santa Fe Railway, most likely for the Albuquerque station (label on verso of painting). The Railway Company, in an attempt to beautify its stations and decorate its depots, hired known contemporary artists of the time to paint Western subject paintings to hang in their lobbies. Not only did the works promote the artists, but inspired and provided insight to travelers from around the world as to the scenes and beauty of the West and Southwest.

In the Redmond catalogue that accompanied a traveling exhibition in 1989 from the Oakland Museum, Harvey Jones (Curator of American Paintings) states that Redmond used this subject matter in paintings for the Railway, yet are very rare and extremely difficult to find. In fact, none have ever surfaced, except for this monumental work.

Redmond’s rendition of “Spirits of the Sunrise” predates many paintings of a similar theme adopted later by Taos and Santa Fe masters. Maynard Dixon’s work, “What An Indian Thinks”, which was an award-winning masterpiece painted in 1915, displays a similar subject, though it was executed 12 years later.

The painting retains tags from the Santa Fe Railway collection (advertising department) and the Albuquerque station.

Provenance:
Santa Fe Railway collection (1903 commission)
C. 1945-1955, Emery Gellert (1889-1981), noted California artist
1955-2000, Anne Vida, Santa Monica Canyon, California
2000-present, private collection (Malibu and Palm Springs, California)