South Sierra Lake Essay

610 Words3 Pages
For my museum report I chose to visit the Bowers Museum in Garden Grove California. The gallery that was my favorite by far was the gallery representing early California. Inside this gallery there were a few dozen paintings of what California used to look like before the industrialization that we have today. That’s when I noticed “South Sierra Lake” by Edgar Alwin Payne. Being an avid outdoorsman this painting spoke to me like none of the others, it reminded me of all the memorable days I’ve spent backpacking through the Sierra Nevada mountains with my friends. This painting represents the raw beauty of the outdoors. This painting was painted using oil on canvas sometime before 1938. He used a very thick brush when painting this in order to create a “blotchy” effect…show more content…
There is also a lot of contrast between the patches of snow and the rock face of the mountain. When I look at this painting the darker colors create an emphasis on the lake initially drawing my eye towards it and the surrounding foliage; but then my eye follows the line created by the shadow up towards the bright sky and the rock face of the mountain. I believe this painting is fairly symmetrical due to the rocks on both sides of the lake, the peak and rocks that appear to jump out in the foreground of the painting. I believe that this painting is trying to demonstrate the natural beauty of Mother Nature, the solitude of being in the mountains and lack of industrialization happening within the mountains. Payne loved the mountains. He loved to hike and spend time in the outdoors but most of all he loved to paint them. Payne was one of the few people that truly appreciated the natural beauty that he found in “South Sierra Lake” somewhere in the Sierra Nevada
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