Century Plant

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Hardie Gramatky (American, 1907 - 1979)

Date1933

Made AtCalifornia, United States, North America

Place DepictedCalifornia, United States, North America

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsApproximately: 14 × 21 1/2 in. (35.6 × 54.6 cm)
Framed: 23 1/4 × 30 3/8 × 1 in. (59.1 × 77.2 × 2.5 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.10

DescriptionHardie Gramatky was raised in Southern California. He was a dedicated student of watercolor painting and produced an average of five small paintings a day for a three year span within his career. By 1929, he had become a proficient watercolorist and was recognized as one of the true innovators in the development of California Style watercolor painting. Gramatky was an animator at the Walt Disney Studios and was also producing commercial art for magazine illustrations as well as children’s books. Part of his style from the beginning focused on simplicity of form, clarity of color, which was combined with direction and movement as can be seen in Gramatky’s Century Plant from 1933. As one of the premier watercolorists, Gramatky’s use of lighting and depth with watercolor can be seen in this painting as the hill sloping up towards the house trains the eye to the two trees casting shadows in front of the house.

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