GEORGE GARDNER SYMONS

(American, 1863-1930)

MONTEREY COAST

Watercolor on Paper

8 x 11 Inches

Initialed Lower Right, 'G.S.'

Additionally Stamped, Verso, with Certification of Authenticity

 

This early American plein-air painter combined Impressionism and Realism in works that are notable for their energy and simplicity. George Gardner Symons first studied in England and, subsequently, at the Chicago Art Institute where he became a life-long friend of William Wendt. The two painted together in California and then, in 1898, joined the artist colony at St. Ives in Cornwall, England where they were influenced by the plein-air techniques of Julius Olsson and Adrian Stokes.

 

Gardner Symons also studied in Paris, Munich and London before working as a commercial artist in Chicago. In 1903, he returned to California with Wendt and built a studio in Laguna Beach. He became active in western art societies including the California Art Club and became sought after for his California coastal scenes and New England winter landscapes.

 

Gardner Symons exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards. The artist's work is held in prominent collections nationwide including in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the Art Institute of Chicago and New York's Salmagundi Club among others. He was an active member of numerous associations including the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, the Institute of Arts and Letters and New York's Salmagundi Club. He was also an elected member of London's Royal Society of British Artists and of the Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres in Paris.

 

Reference:

Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 3, page 3238; Artists in California 1786-1940, Third Edition, Edan Milton Hughes: Crocker Art Museum, Sheridan Books 2002, Vol. 2, page 1086; Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers, Glen B. Opitz, Apollo Press 1983, page 916; Doris Dawdy, Artists of the American West, Vol. III; Author, "The Outlook for Etching", The American Magazine of Art, March 1930; et al.