Granville Redmond (1871-1935)

A popular impressionist with substantial importance to the emergence of Plein-Air impressionism in California, Granville Redmond is recognized as a painter of exceptional talent. He succeeded in the face of the daunting disability of losing his hearing and speech at the age of two. His family moved to California from Philadelphia in 1874, and he attended the school for the deaf in Berkeley, studying with art teacher Theophilus D'estrella. He continued with Arthur Mathews and Amedee Joullion at the San Francisco School of Design. He won an award which allowed him to study in Paris, and placed a large work , "Matin D'hiver" in the Paris salon in 1895.

Redmond returned to California in 1898 and found the commercial art market to be difficult, with opportunities to work for publications and newspapers providing little income. With his moody, poetic touch, he continued to paint California landscapes and coastal scenes from Laguna Beach, Los Angeles and Monterey, and struck the public's buying fancy with his sweeping terrains of hillsides flush with California's state flower, the golden poppy. He counted Charlie Chaplin among his patrons and friends, and even acted in a silent movie, as the sculptor in "City Lights". He earned a wide respect with artists and organizations through the west, and produced some of the best scenes ever painted of California.