Lot Essay
Fernand Lungren received his training in Cincinnati and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under the direction of Thomas Eakins before finishing his studies in Paris. As an illustrator for the Santa Fe Railway Company, Lungren first traveled west in 1892, painting expansive desert scenes throughout Arizona and New Mexico that would remain his sources of inspiration for the rest of his career. The artist settled in California in 1903 and was a founding member of the Santa Barbara School of Art.