Moonlight in the Canyon

Details

FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON (1874-1939)
Moonlight in the Canyon
signed and dated 'F Tenney Johnson/1928' (lower left)—signed and dated again and inscribed with title (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm.)
Painted in 1928.

Provenance

Anna Cuddeback, New York
Private collection, by descent.
Christie’s, New York, 22 May 1991, lot 210, sold by the above.
Private collection, New York, acquired from the above.
Private collecton, Goleta, California, acquired from the above.
Christie's, Los Angeles, California, 28 October 1999, lot 131, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott Senior Vice President, Head of American Art

tabbott@christies.com +1 212 707 5925

Lot Essay

During his years as a commercial illustrator on a trip sponsered by Field and Stream Magazine, Frank Tenney Johnson made his first trip to the Southwest in 1904. Taken with the effect of moonlight on the unique landscape, he wrote, "The sun sank behind the mountains on the western horizon, and I lingered while the moon came up in the east like a big silver disk; and I never saw a more beautiful night. The adobe houses shown up so clear and white in the approaching moonlight that I wanted to paint them just as I saw them. I could spend weeks here just painting." (as quoted in H. McCracken, The Frank Tenney Johnson Book, New York, 1974, p. 83) Johnson's moonlight scenes such as Moonlight in the Canyon became his trademark, and eventually he was able to move away from illustration to focus on painting his signature scenes of peaceful isolation.

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