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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0232

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[photo] [Nevada Falls 2]
Photo credit: J. H. Saltzer, courtesy of The Hoover Institution, Stanford, California
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 22 x 36 in (61 x 91 cm)
Inscription: l/l "F. Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand
Verso: n.v. (back sealed)
Provenance: With Otis Gallery, Los Angeles; to private collection, Los Angeles, in 1953; by descent to private collection, Los Angeles; with Brock Enterprises, Los Altos, California, in 1986; to The Hoover Institution in 1986 (public).
Exhibited: said to have been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1949, perhaps in Bay Region Painters
Citations: Mary Beth Davis letter to Thomas Brock, 5 June 1986.
Site: May be Nevada Falls, Yosemite, California. The letter, obtained in the process of authenticating the painting, says that this is one of three paintings of Nevada Falls executed at the site, and it mentions the 1949 exhibition.
Description: A mountain valley. A stream tumbles over a cliff in the center and descends directly toward the viewer over a small fall in the foreground, between boulders. A path leads along the left bank. Well down the path, a stroller (perhaps a fisherman with a pole) stands looking up the stream toward the fall. Birch trees fill the left side of the picture; bushes and dead trees occupy part of the right bank. Behind the waterfall, in the background, still higher cliffs loom, almost completely filling the frame. Only a small patch of sky, half filled with clouds, is visible. The scene is essentially identical to [In the Catskills], with the addition of the path and the placement of the figure to the left, rather than the right, of the stream; another painting of similar composition is Catskill Fall, Catskill Mountains, New York. (From the painting, 1 September 1989)
Note: The painting hangs on the East wall of the Stauffer Memorial Auditorium of the Hoover Institution, on the Stanford University campus, Palo Alto, California.
Identification: Descriptive title of unknown origin, from the purchase records of the Hoover Institution. Given the close resemblence of this painting to the other two mentioned above, it seems likely that this one is mistitled.
In index(es): Title list, Yosemite Valley--other views, paintings currently held in museums and public collections

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility