Linda Sorensen and I visited the Crocker Museum in late January. Here is some of what we saw and learned.

Redmond attended the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley (now located in Fremont). There, Redmond's artistic talents were advanced by two spectacular teachers, both accomplished artists who were deaf.

Theophilus Hope D'Estrella was a painter, photographer, nature lecturer, writer and mountain climber. As a climber, he taught his students there was no limit to the heights they might strive to achieve.

Douglas Tilden was a successful sculptor. Today, there are many examples of his public art works throughout San Francisco. Like Redmond, Tilden lost his hearing due to scarlet fever.

Redmond continued his art studies at the California School of Design in San Francisco with with Arthur Mathews and Raymond Dabb Yelland. There, he became life-long friends with classmate Gottardo Piazzoni. For the sake of their friendship, Piazzoni learned to sign. The two went to France, enrolling at the Academie Julian in Paris.

In total, Redmond spent four years in France. In the summer of 1894, he sought out the more rural environs of Chatenay on the outskirts of Paris. That fall, he entered his painting Matin d'Hiver (Winter Morning) in the Paris Salon. The painting was accepted, a high honor in and of itself, but Redmond was disappointed it did not receive a medal.

The summer of 1896, Redmond painted in the village of Saint-Malo in Brittany and in the fall in the Pays de la Loire region. Later in the fall, he returned to Paris sharing a room with Piazzoni.

In the summer of 1897, Redmond and Piazzoni followed in the footsteps of the Barbizon artists and painted in Moret-sur-Loing near the forest of Fontainebleau.

In the fall of 1897, both artists returned to Paris, entering paintings in the Salon in hopes of winning medals. This did not happen, and Redmond was forced to return to his parents' home in Los Angeles. Having honed his skills in France, Redmond returned to California appreciating its natural beauty and exceptional light with a well trained eye. He painted up and down the California Coast, mostly in Marin County, the Monterey Peninsula and various rural regions surrounding Los Angeles.

As a proponent of Tonalism, Redmond was successful as a California painter. Sales were good and he became a member of San Francisco's Bohemian Club. But painting sales are not guaranteed by talent alone; there must also be a robust economy to support a healthy art market

Economies have their ups and downs. On the down side, in what would have been Redmond's best and most productive years, the world endured WWI followed by the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. Then, at the end of his career, the Great Depression brought the art market to a halt.

To meet the economic challenges during periods of slow or non existent sales, Redmond used his back-up talent. Due to his deafness, he developed a keen ability to perform pantomime, a skill taught in drama classes at the California School for the Deaf in Berkeley.

Redmond took to pantomime well, and often used it to entertain friends. He performed a skit at the Bohemian Grove for the Bohemian Club. In 1917, he put this talent to work and went to Hollywood. to seek a second career as an actor in silent movies. In short order, he met and and worked for movie producer and comedic legend Charlie Chaplin.

The two became great friends, resulting in Redmond's acting in seven of Chaplin's movies. Chaplin so enjoyed having Redmond around the movie studio, he provided Redmond with an artist's studio on the lot.

From the picture above, it is easy to understand Chaplin's enjoyment of watching his deaf friend paint. Although he painted in silence, he was creating a visual symphony of vibrant colors, balanced composition, sensitive melodies and harmonies rhythmically and expressively presented.

The bottom line for Redmond was he needed to provide for his family. Although his appearance in films helped, he needed to sell paintings. The best way to sell was to provide what the market wanted.

The movie business was growing, with lots of stars, producers, directors and others building homes and wanting art.

Although he preferred his blue nocturnes of the sea, paintings of California poppies is what the art market wanted.

To this point, LA Times art critic Anthony Anderson wrote, "Redmond paints poppies well, and his son Jean, who is his business manager, sells them even better."

Although impressionistic paintings of poppies weren't his favorites, he did not skimp on the creation of them. A disciplined painter, during wildflower season he would rise at 5:30 AM to catch the morning light.

Redmond believed in working outdoors, but quickly. He often told others that fifteen minutes is the maximum one should spend sketching a scene, "After that," referring to the light, "everything's changed."

He also had a rhythm to his painting. he created Impressionist paintings in the late winter and early spring to match the bloom of wildflowers, and then created Tonalist paintings in the summer and fall.

Redmond's landscapes seldom included figures. Redmond chose to focus on the natural landscape. If he did use people, as in Among the Flowers, they were pictured working in harmony with nature.

Granville Redmond: The Eloquent Palette opened January 27 to much excitement in Sacramento. This was the first Granville Redmond exhibition in 30 years, and the largest ever, including 85 of Redmond's signature paintings.

But then, the world changed. All that once seemed important, now seemed of little consequence. The corona virus first necessitated social distancing and then an order to shelter in place indefinitely, throwing people's lives, businesses and the economy into a newly enforced uncertainty.

As for Granville Redmond, this exhibition in Sacramento may have to await another day.

When you stop to think of all the work, research, planning, arrangements to secure paintings, transportation, logistics, hanging of the show, promotion, writing and printing an exhibition book ... all of that was done for an exhibition few would get to see.

Should circumstances change this summer, Granville Redmond: The Eloquent Palette is set to be on exhibit June 20 to September 20 at the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA.

"Something puzzles me about Redmond's pictures. There's such a wonderful joyousness about them all. Look at the gladness in that sky, the riot of color in those flowers. Sometimes I think the silence in which he lives has developed in him some sense, some great capacity for happiness in which we others are lacking." --
--- Charlie Chaplin, c 1925

Gallery Notes ...

At the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, we felt that the art market would totally die. But surprise! we've had some orders. In retrospect, we believe that art may be one of the ways of coping with shelter-in-place, and we are grateful to our website viewers and buyers. Drop us a line, "follow us" on Facebook, and please share our information with other art lovers.

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery and Linda Sorensen Paintings are OPEN (via our websites). We offer free shipping within the United States. Sales delivered within California require 8.25% sales tax. Link to us via our websites, or you may call or text, 707-875-2911.

Our Grace Allison Griffith paintings are available at our Gallery Showroom in Graton and will remain on view there for some time after Shelter in Place ends. ( Grace Allison Griffith article)

Art @ the Source (June) and ArtTrails (October) are not holdng their open studios for 2020. However, the Sebastopol Center for the Arts is planning the details for a fine arts and crafts event open to all artists in Sonoma County that is currenty scheduled for the end of September and will likely have substantial "virtual" content. Since the usual mailed catalogues are unlikely, interested persons may wish to alert us or other participants that they would like information as it becomes available.

We've changed the format of our newsletter. Previously, it has been Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Monthly. Henceforth, it will be called Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Musings. We are freeing ourselves from a monthly deadline, but will still dedicate our time and talent, keeping our readers informed about art and art happenings.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art

... IN GRATON, CA ...
Linda Sorensen's studio and Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery's showroom is now located in Atelier One, Graton. You may view paintings in Linda Sorensen's or Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery's online offerings. Call or email for an appointment (required for access).

... IN YOUR HOME ... Call or email for a an appointment. If appropriate, we'll bring the art to you (up to 200 miles from Bodega Bay).

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