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Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Painting Catalog

Painting record FFSd0360

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[photo] Indians on the Inspiration Point trail

Medium: oil on canvas
Size: 30 x 50 in (76 x 127 cm)
Inscription: l/r "F. Schafer", in the artist's characteristic block-letter hand, underlined
Provenance: With North Point Gallery, San Francisco, 1991; to collection of Norio Takayama, M.D., Fresno, California, 1991.
Exhibited: The Golden Age of Yosemite Painting, 1859–1930, San Francisco, 1991.
Reproductions: Early California and Western Art Research/Schafer slide #109 (color, 1991).
Citations: 1991 exhibition brochure
Site: View East into Yosemite Valley, California, from atop the Topinemete bluffs along the old Mariposa trail, with El Capitan to the left and Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Fall on the right. Sentinel rock and Half Dome are visible in the distance.
Description: The picture is divided sharply into a richly detailed foreground scene, covering a triangle from lower left to middle right, and a hazy, broadly sketched background scene of the vast Grand Canyon of the Yosemite. In the foreground scene, five Indians on horseback, wearing traditional garb, emerge from a conifer forest into a clearing, approaching the viewer on a brightly-lit trail. In the near foreground, snags lie on both sides of the trail; a third snag lies across a boulder slightly up the hillside on the right. The distinct background scene uses a lighter, brighter, and grayer palette. The face of El Capitan catches the sun, while the side toward the viewer is in shadow. The rest of Yosemite Valley consists of grey shapes seen through the haze, below a hazy blue sky. (From a color photograph.)
Identification: Title of unknown origin.
In index(es): Title list, Yosemite Valley--classic view

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Mar 10, 2024, 11:47 MDT Accessibility