About

Edgar Alwin Payne

Edgar Alwin Payne ( born March 1, 1883 - died April 8, 1947 ) Was an American Western landscape painter and muralist. Payne was born to a poor struggling family in southeast Missouri near the Arkansas border. He stayed with his family until his early twenties and then set out to find his way, painting almost any jobs he could find. He initially painted houses, signs, murals, even small theater stage sets to earn money.

At one point Edgar Payne ended up enrolling for art classes at the Chicago Institute of Art, but he after a couple weeks he found it too restrictive and moved on. He simply became self-taught. Edgar Payne struggled at first, but found solace with his small easel - finding occasional work to “get up a little money.”

At age 26 Payne ended up in California which would become an off &on, yet prominent setting for the rest of his life. From Laguna Beach to San Francisco, Edgar was meeting other artist including his future wife, commercial artist Elsie Palmer. Edgar & Elsie ended up back in Illinois for a time where Elsie found work as a commercial artist in Chicago. Working together on various art projects together fueled their already growing interest in each other and they soon married. There is particular story that has always stood out about their wedding - On the morning of their wedding day Edgar saw that the light outside was "perfect", and requested of Elsie that they postpone the ceremony until later in the day so he could capture the colors in paint. Elsie not only agreed readily, but said she totally understood.

Following their wedding and couple years of some artistic success in Chicago Edgar made his first trip to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This would prove to be a monumental trip in his life, as Payne would return to the unspoiled mountains again and again. His artwork from these trips remains an important hallmark of his work.

Edgar Payne’s first major commission and artistic breakthrough came in 1917. The Santa Fe Railroad hired Payne to paint the scenes of the southwest along the tracks from Albuquerque, New Mexico to many parts of California. This solidified not only his skill and work as an artist, but gave him notoriety across the western states.

As artists, the Paynes struggled more than most with the onset of the Great Depression. Work as an artist was hard to find and commissions began to dry up. They returned to Southern California and bought a small home Los Angeles. Under financial stress Edgar and Elsie separated and Edgar moved into a small apartment in Hollywood. Edgar Payne spent most of his remaining years in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains painting.

When it was discovered he had cancer (14 years after he separated from Elsie) she returned and nursed until his passing less than a year later.

Edgar Payne’s artwork actually spans from Europe (Italian harbors and the Alps) to Southwest landscapes across the western United States. However Edgar Alwin Payne is most revered and remembered for his paintings of the American Indians of the Four Corners area, and, of course, the paintings of his beloved Sierras.

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