edgar
payne
The Scenic Journey

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A s went “the rolling stone, the floating
cloud, the vagrant bee,” so Edgar Alwin
Payne painted “as Homer sang, wander-
ing from place to place where his fancy moved him.” 1
In the course of his painting expeditions, his jour-
neys covered some 100,000 miles throughout the
United States and Europe.2 He found magnificence in
diverse settings, including the Southern and Central
California coast, the Sierra Nevada, the Swiss Alps,
the harbors and waterways of France and Italy, and
the desert Southwest. In each locale, he sought vital-
ity, bigness, nobility, and grandeur, which he turned
into unified, carefully calculated compositions with
brushwork that seemed to pulsate with life.3
Described as a “seeker” and an “adventurous wan-
derer,” the artist was more reserved than his travels
or paintings would imply.4 He was modest and quiet,
succinct and focused. Always striving to “mix brains
with paint,” he chose his words carefully, just as he
assiduously selected the compositional elements
for his paintings.5 He had many friends and admir-
ers who found his drive, determination, and talent
compelling; they sought his advice, followed his lead
in founding various arts organizations, and even trav-
eled with him to the remotest wilderness. Those who
knew him best, however, also noted that he appeared
out of place in a crowd, in big cities especially, and
seemed most at home in the highest reaches of the
mountains or the enormity of the desert.6 Nothing in
his dress or sensible haircut suggested an artist, yet
Opposite: Capistrano Canyon (detail), n.d. Oil on canvas, 28 x 34 in. Private collection. Courtesy of The Irvine Museum
art was the most important thing in his life, and he
worked hard and consistently at it (p. 22).7 Everything
else, including his family, came second. On the day of
his wedding, he asked his bride, Elsie Palmer, if they
could change the time of the event because the “light
was right” for painting.8 An artist herself, Palmer
understood and consented (p. 23).
Born March 1, 1883, near Cassville, in Barry County,
Missouri, Payne grew up in the Ozark Mountains.9
His upbringing was certainly far removed from the
mainstream of art; nevertheless, he entered the world
during a period of great aesthetic upheaval, one that
would eventually shape and color his own produc-
tion. In 1878, the Society of American Artists officially
separated from the National Academy of Design.
The National Academy was conservative and encum-
bering, and the Society wanted an alternative, one
that sanctioned more innovative approaches. The
Society’s summation “that art legitimately concerns
itself only with the felicitous arrangement of color and
line; that its only proper aim is technical excellence
and its only fit audience connoisseurs” was a blatant
rejection of the more established style practiced by
artists of the Hudson River school.10 A generational
rift was forming, placing the “new men” and the “old
men” at opposites.11
Among painting genres, landscape in particular
experienced momentous change. The tight literalism
and leaf-by-leaf detail that English critic John Ruskin
endorsed was supplanted by freer paint handling,
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Opposite: Solitude’s Enchantment, 1921. Oil on canvas, 43 x 43 in. Courtesy of Edenhurst Gallery
Above: Along the Riviera, Menton, France, 1922. Oil on canvas, 29 x 29 in. Collection of James Taylor and Gary Conway

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Breton Tuna Boats, Concarneau, France, c. 1924.
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. Private collection

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 edgar payne 272 pages, 10½ x 12 inches
Smyth-sewn casebound, with jacket

The Scenic Journey 120 full-color reproductions and over 50

black-and-white photographs and drawings
Includes Chronology, Selected Bibliography,

O ne of the most gifted of the historic California plein-air painters, Edgar Alwin Payne Exhibition Checklist, and Index
(1883–1947) utilized the animated brushwork, vibrant palette, and shimmering
light of Impressionism, but his powerful imagery was unique among artists of
$60.00 US ($65.00 Canada)
his generation. While his contemporaries favored a quieter, more idyllic representation of the
ISBN 978-0-7649-6053-6
natural landscape, Payne was devoted to subjects of rugged beauty. Largely self-taught, he
found inspiration and instruction in nature itself. His majestic, vital landscapes, informed by Catalog No. A203
his reverence for the natural world, are imbued with an internal force and an active dynamism. Available January 2012
An avid traveler, Payne was among the first painters to capture the vigor of the Sierra
Nevada, and his travels through the Southwest resulted in equally magnificent depictions of © 2012 Pasadena Museum of California Art
the desert. In Europe he rendered the towering peaks of the Alps and the colorful harbors of
France and Italy. His unending quest to convey the “unspeakably sublime” in his landscapes cover: Sunset, Canyon de Chelly (detail), 1916.
won him widespread acclaim—one prominent critic called him a “poet who sings in colors.” Oil on canvas, 28 x 34 in. Mark C. Pigott Collection
Released in conjunction with the traveling exhibition organized by the Pasadena Museum below: Navajo Riders (detail), after 1929. Oil on
of California Art, Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey presents more than 125 reproductions of canvas, 32 x 40 in. Collection of Charles D. Miller
Payne’s paintings, drawings, and decorative arts, as well as rarely seen photographs from the
artist’s travels and selections from his personal collection of compositional studies.
Essays by Peter H. Hassrick, Lisa N. Peters, Scott A. Shields, Jean Stern, and Patricia Trenton
trace Payne’s development as he traveled the world, discovering magnificence in diverse
settings ranging from the California coast, the Sierra Nevada, and the desert Southwest to
the Swiss Alps and the harbors and waterways of Europe. A richly researched chronology by
Shields presents the biographical influences that shaped Payne’s illustrious career.

About the authors

Scott A. Shields, PhD, is the Associate Director and Chief Curator of the Crocker Art
Museum in Sacramento, California, and the author of numerous exhibition catalogues and
books, including Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque (Pomegranate) and
Artists at Continent’s End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875–1907.
Patricia Trenton, PhD, is the editor of the landmark catalogues Independent Spirits:
Women Painters of the American West, 1890–1945 and California Light, 1900–1930, and
the author of many books, including Joseph Kleitsch: A Kaleidoscope of Color and The Rocky
Mountains: A Vision for Artists in the Nineteenth Century.

Additional contributions by
Lisa N. Peters, PhD, Director of Research and Publications at Spanierman Gallery, New York

Peter H. Hassrick, Director Emeritus of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at
the Denver Art Museum and of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming Published by Pomegranate Communications, Inc.
Box 808022, Petaluma CA 94975
Jean Stern, Executive Director of The Irvine Museum 800 227 1428  �  www.pomegranate.com

Jenkins Shannon, Executive Director of the Pasadena Museum of California Art Pomegranate Europe Ltd.
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