Charles Payzant Original Vintage California Regionalist Regionalism Canadian American La Jolla Cove Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting
Original vintage California regionalist landscape oil painting of eucalyptus trees in a La Jolla Cove, by Charles Payzant, (1898-1980).
The 12th annual juried exhibition of painting and sculpture at the Los Angeles Museum in 1931 was an important opportunity for Californians to see the work of prominent American scene painters Benton, Wood, Curry and Marsden Hartley. Los Angeles watercolorists Hardie Gramatky and Charles Payzant won two of the four awards at the exhibition. Canadian-born Payzant won his award of merit for a watercolor Wilshire Blvd. This painting of what was Los Angeles' main street at the time has some illustrational qualities but is also highly inventive.
The 12th annual juried exhibition of painting and sculpture at the Los Angeles Museum in 1931 was an important opportunity for Californians to see the work of prominent American scene painters Benton, Wood, Curry and Marsden Hartley. Los Angeles watercolorists Hardie Gramatky and Charles Payzant won two of the four awards at the exhibition. Canadian-born Payzant won his award of merit for a watercolor Wilshire Blvd. This painting of what was Los Angeles' main street at the time has some illustrational qualities but is also highly inventive.
Charles Payzant (1898-1980) Born: Halifax, Canada; Studied: Victoria School of Art (Halifax, Canada), Chouinard Art Institute (Los Angeles), Otis Art Institute (Los Angeles); Member: American Watercolor Society, California Water Color Society. St. George Charles Payzant, as his birth certificate reads, was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada. After serving with the 193rd Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, he received art instruction in England and Canada. In the early 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles and continued his art education at the Otis Art Institute and Chouinard Art Institute.
By the mid-1920s, he was a freelance commercial artist, producing illustrations in watercolor and line art. Charles Payzant also began producing fine art watercolors painted on location around Los Angeles. His background in illustration was apparent in many of these works and gave them a quality unlike what most of the California watercolorists were producing. They were very early examples of what would later become known as the California Style of watercolor painting.
In 1930, he began exhibiting these works in the California Water Color Society shows and as the younger artists were developing their style, he was refining his already developed approach and was winning a number of awards. He painted on location and often chose to depict city street scenes with people, cars and buildings. His approach to watercolor painting was direct and confident. One of his close friends and painting partners during this period was Hardie Gramatky.
The freelance art business in Los Angeles during the Depression was not very lucrative. In 1934, he took a job painting watercolor backgrounds for the Walt Disney Studios. He produced art for many cartoon shorts and did elaborate backgrounds for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Make Mine Music, Bambi and The Three Caballeros. The skills he developed while painting with watercolor on a daily basis greatly improved his ability to produce fine art watercolors when painting for pleasure.
After the World War II era, he left Disney to again pursue a freelance commercial art business. He began working with his wife, Terry Shannon Payzant, on a series of over fifty children's books; she wrote the text and he did the illustrations. In addition, he became the director of the Dick and Jane series of school readers which contained over 6,000 pictures. Payzant also continued to paint California Style watercolors well into the 1970's.
Biographical information:
Interview with Terry Shannon Payzant, 1983.
Biography courtesy of California Watercolors 1850-1970,
©2002 Hillcrest Press, Inc.
Charles Payzant
(1898-1980)
Canadian, American
California Regionalism
California Landscape, La Jolla
Estimated to have been
created approximately 1968-1970
Oil on Canvas
Signed lower right
Annotated, illegible, lower left
Painting measures approximately 22" X 28", plus frame
Painting, in frame, measures approximately 29" X 35"
Painting is in excellent original condition, and still housed in original vintage wood frame, with linen liner mat. There is a white line across at the top of the trees in the painting, which appears intentional, as there is a couple of other areas painted in this manner. Please review photos. The frame's linen liner has some slight discoloration in small isolated areas, due to age.
This is one of two paintings our gallery has listed by Charles Payzant.
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