Research
Oil on canvas.
Marks:
Bears an old paper gallery label to the reverse:
10. Whener Estate / This tryptec painting showes the Whener estate as it might have looked thirty years ago. The mansion is visible because the trees were smaller.
This charming Southern California landscape was painted by Lew Davis (1910–1979), an Arizona native and Regionalist painter who specialized in Depression-era genre paintings depicting the conditions faced by Americans, particularly miners and mining towns. He studied at the Academy of Design in New York, but returned to Arizona in 1936 and was assigned to the Federal Art Project in 1937. As a requirement, he sent six paintings of his region back to Washington D.C. annually; these copper mining scenes were exhibited at the New York World’s Fair (1939–40) and first brought him national recognition. He served as the State Art Project Supervisor for Arizona under the Works Progress Act and was one of the founding members of Arizona’s first art school.
Full research report available on request.