Claremont Afternoon

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Milford Zornes (American, 1908 - 2008)

Date1937

Made AtClaremont, California, United States, North America

Place DepictedClaremont, California, United States, North America

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsApproximately: 21 3/8 × 28 1/4 in. (54.3 × 71.8 cm)
Framed: 32 5/8 × 39 5/8 × 1 in. (82.9 × 100.6 × 2.5 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.46

DescriptionLike many of the California Scene Painters, Milford Zornes was a part of the California Water Color Society, a tight-knit group of many of the most famous Californian watercolorists. In 1934, Zornes began painting for the P.W.P.A. program instituted by the federal government. He unexpectedly found himself garner an impressive amount of national attention after the Roosevelts chose to hang one of his paintings in the White House. In the few years following 1934 Zornes took as many commissions from the W.P.A. as possible. This painting made near his Claremont home was likely created outside of any nationally sponsored programs. These hills he had grown up near were a constant that he returned to again and again throughout his career. Zornes would later exercise greater control in his brush work, but in this earlier painting probably used the wet on wet technique to bleed colors into wet paper. More precise lines were painted once the paper had dried.

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