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Lot Essay
"Of all the young men and women who have left California to complete their education in Europe there are probably very few whose return has been looked forward to by the general public with as much interest as that of Mr. Guy Rose." (C.F. Sloane, Los Angeles Herald, 4 October 1891, as quoted in W. South, Guy Rose: American Impressionist, 1995, Oakland, California, p. 26)
Arguably the most pivotal artist to inspire fundamental change from academic nineteenth century artistic style toward Impressionism in California was Guy Rose. Born in the San Gabriel Valley, Rose began his early artistic education in San Francisco and later traveled to Paris in 1888 for further study. He resided in France for twelve years, spending much of his time in Giverny where he was heavily influenced by Claude Monet and closely acquainted with other American artists Frederick Frieseke, Richard E. Miller, and Alson Clark. During this time Rose developed a unique sensibility that was quite uncharacteristic of the European manner of painting. Rather than scientifically mastering the effects of light and color and translating them directly onto the canvas, Rose added a sentience to his landscapes that was unseen in Monet's. "Rose is a direct, artistic descendent of Monet, but he is a man of today, and he is therefore more personal in his point of view. In him, Monet's passion for paint has been metamorphosed by time and spirit into a poetic feeling for nature, a more fastidious faculty of selection." (A. Anderson, The Los Angeles Times, 17 January 1917)
After his return to California, Rose embraced the local landscape and its subtle yet majestic qualities. It appears that in 1918 Rose first visited Carmel, an artist's community that had previously attracted many east coast artists such as Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase, as well as a number of artists who relocated from San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. Rose would settle in Carmel and the distinctly rugged coastline would remain the focal point for the remainder of his career. "Indeed, Rose painted a substantial number of his best-known works in what was less than a year's time at Carmel, and, focusing on coastal views, he attempted to extend the expressive significance of the painted atmosphere." (Guy Rose: American Impressionist, p. 67) In the present work, Rose displays a serene seascape cut by a dramatic coastal line of rocks and wildflowers. The foreground is heavily painted with quick dabs of bright pigment and its rich texture exhibits Rose's confident brushwork. The background, marked by the rolling hills of northern California and the sky above, is defined by much lighter, subtle brushstrokes that establish an overall atmospheric quality to the scene. The heavier, more grounded earth gradually leading toward the distant intangible sky reveals the spirituality in Rose's landscapes, a testament to his personal, transcendent impressions of nature. In this outstanding example of his California style of Impressionism, Rose combines subtle tonalities of palette with light, feathery brushwork, and the atmospheric quality of the incoming fog to create a poetic rendering of the dramatic California coast.
Widely considered the father of California Impressionism, Rose's style was a more accessible version of the scientific French Impressionism. "It combined the traditional and recognizable values of accurate drawing and careful observation with what was for them the still wholly vanguard Impressionist aesthetic of light. Rose's painting offered clarity and order, two primary virtues subscribed to by his audience, at the same time as it described the sun-drenched and colorful California landscape in terms of heightened sensuality. His synthesis of technical prowess in paint with obvious lyric sensibilities represented to his viewers a just and reasonable balance between nature and poetry." (Guy Rose: American Impressionist, p. 61)
This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné on the artist being compiled by Roy Rose and the Irvine Museum.
Arguably the most pivotal artist to inspire fundamental change from academic nineteenth century artistic style toward Impressionism in California was Guy Rose. Born in the San Gabriel Valley, Rose began his early artistic education in San Francisco and later traveled to Paris in 1888 for further study. He resided in France for twelve years, spending much of his time in Giverny where he was heavily influenced by Claude Monet and closely acquainted with other American artists Frederick Frieseke, Richard E. Miller, and Alson Clark. During this time Rose developed a unique sensibility that was quite uncharacteristic of the European manner of painting. Rather than scientifically mastering the effects of light and color and translating them directly onto the canvas, Rose added a sentience to his landscapes that was unseen in Monet's. "Rose is a direct, artistic descendent of Monet, but he is a man of today, and he is therefore more personal in his point of view. In him, Monet's passion for paint has been metamorphosed by time and spirit into a poetic feeling for nature, a more fastidious faculty of selection." (A. Anderson, The Los Angeles Times, 17 January 1917)
After his return to California, Rose embraced the local landscape and its subtle yet majestic qualities. It appears that in 1918 Rose first visited Carmel, an artist's community that had previously attracted many east coast artists such as Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase, as well as a number of artists who relocated from San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. Rose would settle in Carmel and the distinctly rugged coastline would remain the focal point for the remainder of his career. "Indeed, Rose painted a substantial number of his best-known works in what was less than a year's time at Carmel, and, focusing on coastal views, he attempted to extend the expressive significance of the painted atmosphere." (Guy Rose: American Impressionist, p. 67) In the present work, Rose displays a serene seascape cut by a dramatic coastal line of rocks and wildflowers. The foreground is heavily painted with quick dabs of bright pigment and its rich texture exhibits Rose's confident brushwork. The background, marked by the rolling hills of northern California and the sky above, is defined by much lighter, subtle brushstrokes that establish an overall atmospheric quality to the scene. The heavier, more grounded earth gradually leading toward the distant intangible sky reveals the spirituality in Rose's landscapes, a testament to his personal, transcendent impressions of nature. In this outstanding example of his California style of Impressionism, Rose combines subtle tonalities of palette with light, feathery brushwork, and the atmospheric quality of the incoming fog to create a poetic rendering of the dramatic California coast.
Widely considered the father of California Impressionism, Rose's style was a more accessible version of the scientific French Impressionism. "It combined the traditional and recognizable values of accurate drawing and careful observation with what was for them the still wholly vanguard Impressionist aesthetic of light. Rose's painting offered clarity and order, two primary virtues subscribed to by his audience, at the same time as it described the sun-drenched and colorful California landscape in terms of heightened sensuality. His synthesis of technical prowess in paint with obvious lyric sensibilities represented to his viewers a just and reasonable balance between nature and poetry." (Guy Rose: American Impressionist, p. 61)
This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné on the artist being compiled by Roy Rose and the Irvine Museum.