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Lot Essay
Celebrated for his depictions of the often moody Northern California landscape painted in transparent watercolor washes, Percy Gray was also a master in the medium of oil. California Landscape is a rare and beautiful example of the artist's works in oil and exhibits the hallmarks of his best paintings from the height of his career.
Painted in a broad palette of verdant pigments, California Landscape presents a view of oaks, eucalyptus and other local flora composed in rich layers that extend deep into the picture plane. A bright cloud-filled sky fills the background and balances the sparkling water and sun spots on the ground. "As an oil painter, Gray typically used a palette of stronger, brighter colors then he used in his watercolors . . . where the greens of the oaks and the blues of the sky are more intense than they would be in his watercolors." (D.C. Whitton, "Time and Place: Percy Gray in Context," The Legacy of Percy Gray, 1999, p. 22)
Painted in a broad palette of verdant pigments, California Landscape presents a view of oaks, eucalyptus and other local flora composed in rich layers that extend deep into the picture plane. A bright cloud-filled sky fills the background and balances the sparkling water and sun spots on the ground. "As an oil painter, Gray typically used a palette of stronger, brighter colors then he used in his watercolors . . . where the greens of the oaks and the blues of the sky are more intense than they would be in his watercolors." (D.C. Whitton, "Time and Place: Percy Gray in Context," The Legacy of Percy Gray, 1999, p. 22)