Granville Redmond (1871-1935) produced paintings capturing California's diverse topography, vegetation, and color. Representing both northern and southern parts of the state, these range from contemplative Tonalist works that evoke a quiet calm, to dramatic and colorful Impressionist scenes. Born in Philadelphia, he contracted scarlet fever as a toddler, which left him permanently deaf. Soon thereafter, his family moved to California, where he attended the California Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind in Berkeley (now California School for the Deaf in Fremont). Redmond subsequently trained at the California School of Design in San Francisco and the Acadmie Julian in Paris. Upon his 1898 return to California after four years abroad, he opened his first painting studio in Los Angeles, where he painted landscapes. He ultimately became best known for colorful Impressionist depictions of California hillsides and meadows ablaze with poppies and other native flora. Silent film star Charlie Chaplin, Redmond's friend and supporter, said of these paintings, "There's such a wonderful joyousness about them all. Look at the gladness in that sky, the riot of color in those flowers. Sometimes I think that the silence in which he lives has developed in him some sense, some great capacity for happiness in which we others are lacking." Today, Redmond is considered one of California's top early artists.
Based on an unpublished manuscript by the late Mildred Albronda (1912-1998), this book was written and compiled by Scott A. Shields and published in conjunction with the exhibition Granville Redmond: The Eloquent Palette, organized by the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. It includes more than 135 reproductions of Redmond's paintings, photos of the artist and his family, and other supplemental images. Five chapters and an extensive chronology document the artist's extraordinary life and art.
