SEA NOTES
Edgar Payne:
Composition of Outdoor Painting
“ “All creative endeavor is toward a definite purpose. Therefore, it is imperative that we have a definite conception of this purpose and a clear understanding of the means that accomplish this end.””
High Sierra, Edgar Payne, 1921
My wife tells me I have too many books, the shelves are packed, and the books flood the floors, swamping the living room. But, to me, the significant majority are essential. They serve as reference material that I am constantly referring to. A book in my collection that I often look to is Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne. I like to paint plein air, so I found the information valuable and have put much of the advice to good use. The data is of equal value to easel painters with advice on composition, color, and movement. I want to share some of the information with articles in Sea Notes, but first, who is Edgar Payne, and why is he important in art? I will start this series with a brief biography of Edgar.
Edgar Payne in his studio
Edgar Payne was known for his paintings of the American Southwest and was a leader in the California Plein Aire movement. Less known are his marine images, most of which were painted overseas on his two-year tour of Europe, 1922-1924. He painted in Brittany, Paris, Provence, Switzerland, and Venice; his favorite location to paint was the Alps.
Boats in Brittany, Edgar Payne, 1929
Born in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas, on March 1st, 1883, in the heart of the Ozark mountains, Edgar was the son of a carpenter and had two sisters and five brothers. His early life was spent painting houses, signs, portraits, murals, and sets for the local theater. He left his home around 1902, at 19, and traveled through the Ozarks, the South, the Midwest, and Mexico. Payne eventually ended up in Chicago in 1907, enrolling in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study portrait painting. After two weeks at the Institute, he was not impressed with the program and found that it needed to be more structured for his taste. He decided to drop out and become self-taught, developing a distinct, impressionist style. He stayed in Chicago and initially struggled, eventually exhibiting with a group of landscape painters at the Palette and Chisel Club. He supplemented his income by doing mural work.
Laguna Beach, Edgar Payne, 1921
Concarmeau Boats, Edgar Payne, 1923
In 1909 Payne traveled to California and spent time painting in Laguna Beach and San Francisco; while he was visiting California, he met a few like-minded artists, including his future wife, Elsie Palmer (1884 - 1971). Elsie was born on September 9, 1884, in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of English immigrants. In 1886, her family moved to California, eventually settling in Oakland. At the time of Edgar and Elsie’s meeting, she was a commercial artist, working for an advertising agency, producing advertisements, catalogs, and signs.
California Coast, Edgar Payne, 1922
Edgar Payne made frequent trips to California, once in 1915, to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco; the following year, he made his first trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This visit was a significant moment in his life, creating paintings that would be a hallmark of his career and earn him wide renown.
Edgar revisited California in 1911, and upon his return to Chicago, he encountered Elsie, who had accepted a position as a commercial artist. A romance ensued, and they were scheduled to be married on the morning of November 9, 1912. On the morning of their marriage, Edgar was so impressed with the light that he asked Elsie if they could postpone the wedding for a few hours so that he could paint. Being an artist, she fully understood and complied with Edgar’s request—a mark of true artists. By the end of the day they were newlyweds and an artistic duo.
Breton Tuna Boats, Edgar Payne, 1929
Edgar Payne received two commissions in 1917 that became significant for his career as an artist. The first commission was from the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to paint images of the Southwest along Santa Fe's route from Albuquerque to California for their advertising campaign. This was a long tradition, starting in 1892, to hire artists such as Thomas Moran to showcase the route’s beauty.
Canyon-de-Chelly, Edgar Payne, 1916
In the summer of 1917, Edgar Payne was offered and accepted a commission to paint murals for the Congress Hotel in Chicago. It turned out to be a tremendous job, requiring Payne to paint several floors and more than 11,000 square feet of canvas. To paint this large commission, Edgar rented an empty factory in Glendale, California, assisted by his wife, Elsie. With these commissions, Edgar solidified his reputation as an artist. When the project was completed, Payne’s moved to Laguna Beach, California; they became active members of the art colony, and eventually, Edgar became president of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Edgar and Elsie were a large part of the California Impressionism movement, also called the California Plein Aire Painting. This was a significant movement in the early twentieth Century, working out of doors, directly from nature, a regional variation of American Impressionism that peaked in the years before the Depression. The California movement was known for using a bright, chromatic palette and loose, painterly brush strokes, which showed an influence from the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
California Seacoast, Edgar Payne, 1922
The American Southwest is known for its distinctive light, especially in Southern California, attracting and becoming a thread that bound these artists. The recognition and depiction of this light through color inspired these artists with the clarity of this distinctive sense of atmosphere. Edgar was one of the leading artists of this period, with his skill at breaking complex shapes into basic color shapes and using large brushes to paint distinct forms. His paintings show an adventurous use of color; Edgar pushed the colors to create a dynamic sense of light, indicative of the Southwestern atmosphere. He often painted with rich oranges, blues, and purples that are difficult to control, quickly becoming garish if overdone. Still, with Edgar’s skill, he developed a dramatic composition and sense of place and light.
Fishing Boats in a Harbor, Edgar Payne
Edgar and Elsie separated in 1932 after a bitter argument but did not divorce. Edgar lived in his studio in Hollywood and continued to paint the California scene there. In 1946 Edgar developed cancer, and after a fourteen-year separation, Elsie returned to help him with his illness. Edgar succumbed to the cancer and passed away on April 8, 1947.
Drying Sails-Chioggoa-Italy, Edgar Payne, 1922
In 1941 wrote and published Composition of Outdoor Painting, considered a classic treatise on landscape painting. This publication reflects Edgar’s ongoing example of a lifetime of learning. Payne is an excellent example of an artist constantly exploring and learning. It can sometimes be dense and repetitive, but it has valuable information, including composition diagrams that visually explain his ideas. In future articles in Sea Notes, I will go deeper into some of these chapters and further explore some of Edgar Payne’s ideas on art, color, and composition.