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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0141

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[photo] Evening on Lassen Peak, Sierra Nevada Mountains
Photo credit: Early California and Western Art Research, 1983
Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 24 x 42 in (61 x 107 cm)
Inscription: Signed l/l "F Schaf**", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, partially underlined, last two letters not apparent in the available photograph.
Verso: Said to be titled "Eve on Lassen Peak / Sierra Nevada Mts"
Provenance: Sold 9 June 1983 for $1300+10% by Butterfield & Butterfield, San Francisco, as lot 2215 in sale 3330P. Acquired between June 1983 and June 1984 by the collection of William T. and Elma Nordeen, Sandpoint, Idaho (see note 2); loaned in June 1984 and later that year donated to the Museum of Native American Cultures, Spokane, Washington, accession NORDEEN.1984.6; transferred in December 1991 to The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane, Washington, where it retains the same accession number.
Reproductions: 9 June 1983 sale catalog 3330P, lot 2215; Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #66 (color, 1983); The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture web site.
Site: Looking North toward Lassen Peak, California, before that volcano erupted in 1914/1915. Lassen peak is actually at the southern end of the Cascades rather than the northern end of the Sierra Nevada, though this distinction may not have been appreciated by artists in the late 1800's.
Description: From a high vantage point we see a flat-topped peak in the distance just to the right of center. It is covered with snow, colored coral by the setting sun, and rises high above snow-covered foothills. Between us and the mountain lie only two low ridges; to the left a nearby forest rises to fill the picture with green and grey. The setting sun strikes the mountain from the left, but it does not appear in the picture. The mountain is in crisp detail, despite its great distance. There are wisps of orange clouds. (From a color photograph.)
Note: (1) The composition is very similar to that of [Mountain sunrise (Lassen Peak)]. (2) The brief time (less than a year) between the 1983 Butterfield & Butterfield auction and the gift by the Nordeens to the MONAC suggests that the Nordeens may have been the successful bidders. (3) In December 1991 MONAC closed and transferred its collection to the Northwest MAC. (4) A painting with the same title (but "Lassen" misspelled "Losson") was offered as lot 28 in the catalog of a May 1886 auction in Salt Lake City, Utah, but there is not enough information in that catalog to either include or exclude the possibility that it is the same painting.
Identification: Title from reported verso inscription, with abbreviations "Eve" and "Mts" expanded. The Early California and Western Art Research index identifies the slide with the 9 June 1983 sale.
In index(es): Title list, Lassen Peak, California

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility