William Alexander Griffith Original Vintage Antique California Plein Air Impressionist Landscape American Fine Art Oil Painting Sand Dunes 1
Original vintage antique oil on canvas painting, of a California landscape featuring sand dunes, by Southern California Plein Air Impressionist artist, William Alexander Griffith, (1866-1940). This painting is one of two in a set exhibited by the artist, listed in our gallery.
William Alexander Griffith, (1866-1940), a prominent Southern California Plein Air artist, was born in Lawrence, Kansas. William Griffith traveled to Europe with his friends Benjamin Chambers Brown and Edmund H. Wuerpel, in 1890; (Wuerpel was later Director of the St. Louis School of Fine Arts). He enrolled in the Académie Julian while in Paris and studied there for two years. He joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in 1899 as a professor after two earlier teaching positions.
Griffith came in 1918 to San Diego for what was to be only a sabbatical year. He became so enamored of the painting possibilities of this beautiful state that he left his twenty-one-year position as head of the Art Department at the University of Kansas and brought his wife and five children to California in order to become a full-time painter. He settled in Laguna Beach and became a charter member of the Laguna Beach Art Association along with fellow painters and neighbors, Edgar and Elsie Payne, William Wendt, Anna Althea Hills, and Frank Cuprien. The historical importance of these painters has inspired many exhibitions throughout the country.
William Griffith was president of the Laguna Beach Art Association from 1920-21 and 1925-27. He helped in fundraising efforts to build the permanent gallery on Cliff Drive, the predecessor of the Laguna Art Museum.
William Griffith
(1866-1940)
California Landscape Near Sand Dunes
Approximately 24" X 30"
Oil on canvas, nailed to wooden stretcher bars
Age of painting (s) approximately 1930
The painting is in very good to excellent original condition. There is a very slight pressure mark from the side wood stretcher bars, on canvas. Please review the images.
The painting is hand-signed "William" on the reverse, with an encircled 2, (one of two); with no other identifying information. Due to the lack of a complete signature, the painting is listed in the manner of William Alexander Griffith.
This is one of two paintings listed, of the same measurements, and medium, and continuance of similar landscapes, by William Alexander Griffith.
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