Sydney M. Laurence, Alaskan Landscape
United States Ca. 1920
A beautiful rendering in pastels on blue paper of what is probably the region of Denali National Park and Preserve. The Park, particularly Mt. McKinley within the Park, was Laurence’s favorite subject. He traveled widely during his life from covering the Zulu War as a correspondent to painting in England, California, China, New York and lived much of his time in Alaska. Signed lower right.
It’s reported that he was the first professional artist to make Alaska his home, settling in the small village of Tyonek to prospect for gold and paint when he could. The image of Denali from the hills above the rapids of the Tokositna River became his trademark. Laurence also painted a variety of Alaskan scenes in his long and prolific career, among them sailing ships and steamships in Alaskan waters, totem poles in Southeast Alaska, dramatic headlands and the quiet coves and streams of Cook Inlet, cabins and caches under the northern lights, Alaska Natives, miners, and trappers engaged in their often solitary lives in the northern wilderness.
Sidney Mortimer Laurence was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1865 and died in Anchorage, Alaska in 1940. He is known for his painting and illustrating career having studied under the tutelage of Edward Moran at The National Academy of Design and immediately after at L’ Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris from 1889-94. He became a member of The Royal Society of British Artists.
Laurence exhibited regularly by the late 1880s. He and his wife traveled to England, settling in 1889 in the English artists’ colony of St. Ives, Cornwall from 1889 to 1898. Over the next decade he exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, included in the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris during 1890, 1894, and 1895, winning an award in 1894, The National Acad. Of Design in 1888-89 and 1898, Boston AC in 1889 and 1892, Penn. Acad. Of Fine Art in 1892 and 1899 , Art Inst. Of Chicago in 1898-99 and the Panama Pacific Exhibition of 1915.
There is also a rough sketch on the back which can be seen through the plexiglass backing.
Price
SOLD
Condition
Excellent. Frame ( a few small imperfections ) is recent.
Measurements
Sight 15" X 11.5", Frame 24" X 20.5"
