GRAND CANYON GRANDEUREarly Paintings and Prints from the Hays Collection

Thomas H. Wilson

Front Cover

1 Gunnar M.WidforssGrand Canyon, 1924

Watercolor, 20" x 16"

GRAND CANYON GRANDEUREarly Paintings and Prints from the Hays Collection

Carl Oscar Borg,A.N.A.Grand Canyon, date unknown

Tempera, GVz" x 63/i"

Thomas H. Wilson

GRAND CANYON GRANDEUR: Early paintingsand prints from the Hays Collection has beenorganized by Mesa Southwest Museum.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

Mesa Southwest Museum November 18, 2006-March 18, 2007

Sharlot Hall Museum May 18, 2007-August 12, 2007

Museum of Northern Arizona February 9, 2008-May 26, 2008

Publication of Grand Canyon Grandeur: Harly Paintings and Prints from the Hays Collection made possible bysupport from Southwest Museum Foundation, Southwest Museum Guild, and Arizona West Galleries.

Author: Thomas H. Wilson, Director, Mesa Southwest MuseumGraphic design: Martha Wilson, MW GraphicsPhotography: Michael Ramos, Mesa Southwest Museum

© 2007 Southwest Museum Foundation

GRAND CANYON GRANDEUR

The Grand Canyon is one of the wonders of the natural world. From its first discovery, the canyonhas awed viewers and fueled the imaginations of artists. The canyon has challenged, and just as

often frustrated, the most talented writers, photographers and artists, whether attempting to capturethe canyon in words, with film or on canvas. Through its majesty, the canyon eludes its pursuer.

Gunnar M.WidforssGrand Canyon, Grand View, date unknownWatercolor, 29Vz" x 24"

Ferdinand BurgdoffGrand Canyon, 1927Oil, 8" x 10"

7 struggle in mad haste to utilise the moment, wrote William Robinson Leigh, one of the artists in the Hays Col-lection, in 1929, but ah! How futile! How hopeless! What a wretched makeshift these paltry pigments! How hopelessto attempt; what inconceivable impudence to dream of imitating anything so ineffable! It challenges man's utmost skill;it mocks and defies his puny efforts to grasp and perpetuate, through art, its inimitable grandeur,

Many of the greatest artists in America shared Leigh's frus-tration but nevertheless tried to capture in art the canyon's

vastness, depth, color, hues, character, mood, all at differenttimes of day, in varying cloud and weather conditions, at dif-ferent times of year, from different locations at or in the canyon.

The artists in this exhibition are a who's who of artists thatlabored at the canyon. Works in the exhibition date from1854 to the mid-1930s. Some artists worked in oil paint,others in watercolor, still others in various kinds of print-making. Many strived to depict the canyon naturalisticallyand some presented quite detailed representations. Othersblurred detail and offered a more atmospheric, impression-istic or abstract view.

Gunnar Mauritz Widforss (1879-1934)Of all the painters of Grand CanyonGrandeur, none is more closely associ-

ated with the Grand Canyon than

Gunnar Widforss. Widforss was bornin Stockholm and educated in art at

the Institute of Technology from 1896

to 1900. Thereafter he traveled widely

in Europe, Russia, Africa and, between1905 and 1908, the United States. He

returned to Sweden, where his work

became popular with European royalty.

Widforss returned to the United States

in 1921, where he found his life's truecalling. Stephen Mather, head of the

national park system, encouraged

Widforss to paint the parks. Widforssworked in Yosemite, Yellowstone,

Bryce, Zion, Mesa Verde and other

scenic venues, but the Grand Canyon

was his main love. He established a

studio on the south rim, and traded his

artwork for food and shelter or sold itGunnar M. Widforss at ̂ Fred R ^ ^ ̂ E{ Tova±

Bright Angel, Grand Canyon, date unknown .Watercolor, 21 Vi" x 18" Hotel. Widforss strove for realism in

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his images of the canyon. He tried to

paint a particular view at the same time

each day, to minimize variation in light

and shadow. Works in the Hays Collec-tion such as Grand Canyon, Grand View;

bright Angel, Grand Canyon; Grandeur

Point, Grand Canyon; and Grand Canyon

(1924) demonstrate Widforss' virtuos-

ity as a watercolorist and document thegrandeur of the canyon.

Widforss rendered snow in watcrcolor

perhaps better than anyone, as in Early

Canyon Snow (p. 23). Northern Arizona

Desert (p. 22) shows the beauty of the

barren landscape. His works illustrate amastery of light, shadow and color. It

seems appropriate that Widforss, who

died suddenly near El Tovar, is buriedin the cemetery at the Grand Canyon.

Gunnar M. WidforssGrandeur Point, Grand Canyon, date unknownWatercolor, 25Y4"x19%"

Gunnar M. WidforssGrand Canyon Vista, 1924Watercoior, 12"x10'/4"

Gunnar M. WidforssGrand Canyon, 1924Watercoior, 71/2"x101/2"

Louis Akin

Temple of Isis, 1907

Oil, 12" x 8"

end of his life he turned again to Hopi

themes, and "was working on murals forthe American Museum of Natural His-tory when he died of pneumonia in

1913. He is buried in Flagstaff.

The Hays collection contains five works

by Louis Aldn. The precise detail and

clarity of B/ Tovar on the Santa Fe (p. 16;

and the smaller E/ Tovar Scene) and San

Francisco Peaks (p. 23), contrast with the

more atmospheric approach Aldn used

in Temple of Isis and Grand Canyon, A.

B/ue Morning.

Louis Akin (1868-1913)

Louis Akin was born near Portland,Oregon, in 1868. He studied art inNew York City, where he worked as anillustrator. In 1903, the Santa Fe Rail-road sent him to Arizona to produceimages of the Hopi, and Akin livedfor 18 months at the ancient Hopicommunity of Oraibi. He exhibitedhis work from this trip successfully inNew York. Akin returned to Arizonaand resided in Flagstaff. He completedhis painting of El Tovar in 1906, acommission for the Santa Fe, whichthe railroad reproduced and widelydistributed. Aldn promoted the GrandCanyon and northern Arizona throughhis landscapes, but he continuallyfaced money problems. Towards the

Louis Akin

Grand Canyon, A Blue Morning, 1907Oil, 16" x 12"

William Robinson Leigh (1866-1955)

William Robinson Leigh was born inWest Virginia and educated in art at theMaryland Institute (now MarylandInstitute College of Art) in Baltimoreand then from 1883 for 12 years at theRoyal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.Upon return to the United States in1896, he worked in New York as an il-lustrator. In 1906, Albert Groll, Leigh'sfriend and fellow student from Munich,suggested he visit the Southwest. AtLeigh's request, the Santa Fe Railroadsponsored the trip in exchange forpaintings of the Grand Canyon. Othertrips and commissions from the SantaFe followed. Leigh fell in love with theSouthwest and made 25 trips there dur-ing his lifetime. Because of his work inthe West, be became known as the"Sagebrush Rembrandt." In 1926 and1928 Leigh traveled to Africa with CarlAkeley for the American Museum ofNatural History, and provided the dio-rama murals in the famous hall ofAfrican mammals that bears Akeley'sname. Leigh was elected a NationalAcademician in 1955.

William R. Leigh, N.A.Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1909Oil, 20" x 16"

Edgar PayneGrand Canyon from Mather Point, c. 1925Oil, 16" x 20"

Edgar Alwin Payne

(1883-1947)

Edgar Payne is known for his imagesof the high Sierras, Southern Califor-nia coastal scenes, European Alpineand boating images and Southwesternlandscapes. Born in Missouri in 1883,from age 14 Payne made a living paint-ing houses, signs and sets before hewent to art school in Chicago in 1907.He studied briefly at the Art Institute,but essentially Payne was a self-taughtartist. His first trip to California was in1909, and he visited the Southwest in

1916, traveling on contract for the Santa Fe Railroad. He visited Canyon de Chelly and, briefly, theGrand Canyon, beginning a lifelong love of the Southwest. Working with broad, quick strokes in animpressionist style, Payne painted Canyon de Chelly and the redrock country, often showing big skiesudth billowing clouds and diminutive Navajo horsemen among the towering rocks and mesas. Payneprobably painted fewer than 20 Grand Canyon scenes in his lifetime. He settled in Laguna Beach in1917, and became the first president of the Laguna Beach Art Association in 1920. He spent twoyears in Europe, from 1922 to 1924, and returned to the Southwest in 1925 and 1930. In 1941, hepublished Composition of Outdoor fainting, a popular guide that is still in print.

George Gardner Symons (1861-1930)

George Gardner Simon was born inChicago and studied at the Art Instituteof Chicago. At the Art Institute, hemet the artist William Wendt. Simonmade his first trip to Southern Califor-nia in 1884, and he and Wendt estab-lished a studio south of Laguna Beachin 1896. Between 1902 and 1909 Simonstudied art in London, Paris and Mu-nich. To avoid anti-Semitism, hechanged his name to Symons in 1909.He became a member of the NationalAcademy of Design in 1911 and re-ceived many national and internationalhonors. He maintained studios in La-guna Beach, Brooklyn and a home in

George Gardner Symons, N.A.

Grand Canyon, 1914Oil, 6" x 9"

Sheldon ParsonsGrand Canyon Series, A/a 15,1916.Oil, 12" x 9"

Massachusetts. Gardner Symons was a plein-air painter work-ing in an impressionist style. He is well known for NewEngland winter scenes, California hills and coastal images,and English outdoor scenes. In 1914 the Santa Fe Railroadcommissioned Symons to paint the Grand Canyon. In theHays Collection, Symons is represented by a small,panoramic oil, Grand Canyon (1914).

Sheldon Parsons (1866-1943)

Sheldon Parsons was a successful portrait painter in NewYork, trained at the National Academy of Design, before hemoved west in 1913 following the death of his wife. For hishealth, he and his daughter Sara moved to Santa Fe, where hewas one of the earliest artists of the Santa Fe art colony. Theurbane Parsons served as curator of the new Museum of

Fine Arts of the Museum of New Mexico, from about 1918 to 1920, where he showed the works ofmodern artists such as George Bellows, Paul Burlin and Marsden Hartley. This led to charges ofBolshevism at the museum, and, either to avoid the aggravation or to lessen his worldoad, Parsonsleft the museum amicably to dedicate his time to his own art. Parsons often painted the landscape inand around Santa Fe. In a mildly impressionist style and a palette of muted colors, Parsons paintedmountains, forests, streams, clouds, haciendas, adobe houses and Santa Fe streetscapes. He passedaway at Santa Fe in 1943.

Frederick Ballard Williams (1871-1956)

Frederick Ballard Williams was born inBrooklyn and studied art at CooperUnion, the New York Institute ofArtists and Artisans and the NationalAcademy of Design. He traveled toEurope, where the light, soft touch ofFrench Rococo painters such as An-toine Watteau influenced Williams toplace figures in bucolic, Arcadian land-scapes. In 1910, Williams was one of agroup of five artists, along withThomas Moran, who traveled to theGrand Canyon and stayed at El Tovarunder the auspices of the Santa FeRailroad. The results of this ten-day r , . . n , . , . „

Frederick B. Williams, N.A.trip included Grand View (1910) and a Grand View, 1910larger work of the same scene, The °''- 8"T/2 x ̂ ^"Grand Canyon (1910). Williamsresided most of his life in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and gen-erally painted in his studio. He became an associate memberof the National Academy in 1907 and a full member in 1909.

George Elbert Burr (1859-1939)

George Elbert Burr is a well-known artist of Arizona and a

resident of Phoenix from 1924 until his death there in 1939.

Burr grew up in Ohio and Missouri, and briefly trained at the

Art Institute of Chicago (1878-79). He worked successfully

as an illustrator for a number of prominent publications. He

completed nearly 1,000 etchings for a catalogue of jades for

the Metropolitan Museum of Art and used the money to

travel in Europe from 1896 to 1901. Burr lived in New Jersey

until 1906, when be moved to Denver for his health. In the

George E. Burr

Grand Canyon Arizona No. 7, 1921

Etching, 12" x 10"

winters, Burr traveled in the arid and warmer areas of southern California, Arizona and New Mexico,

which resulted in his famous Desert Set etchings series. Further failing health prompted his move to

Phoenix, where he was active in the arts and supported the Phoenix Fine Arts Association. He was

well known nationally for his etchings, pastels and watercolors, and his works are in major museum

collections in Europe and the United States, including several in Arizona.

Howard Cook (1901-1980)

Howard Cook had a long association withthe Southwest, especially New Mexico.Born in Springfield., Massachusetts in1901, Cook was trained at the ArtStudents League in New York City andtraveled widely around the world. In the1920s he worked as an illustrator for topmagazines. A commission to illustrateWilla Gather's Death Comes for theArchbishop brought him to New Mexicoin 1926. Southwestern landscapes,Native American cultures and local tra-ditional architecture became themes ofhis prints at that time. Cook studied li-thography in Paris in 1929, and he was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships, one in 1932 to studyfresco painting in Taxco, Mexico, and another in 1934 to study in the southern United States. Laterin his life, he focused upon mural painting, then watercolors and oil painting. In World War II hewas a combat artist for the Navy in the Pacific theater. He lived and worked variously in Taos, SantaFe, Roswell and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Howard Cook was elected a National Academician in1949, and he died at Santa Fe in 1980.

Gustave Baumann (1881-1971)

Gustave Baumann is one of the world's premier printmakers. Born in Germany, Baumann came toChicago when he was ten. He worked as a commercial graphic designer and printmaker, and studiedart at the Art Institute of Chicago and in Munich. He followed European traditions of craftsmanshipand was influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement. He visited fellow artists and worked in Taos,New Mexico in 1918, and soon decided to settle in Santa Fe. Southwestern landscapes and NativeAmerican cultures past and present captivated Baumann. In 1919 he made his first visit to the GrandCanyon, and was struck by its majesty. He was in the forefront of artists working in European print-making traditions to create color prints from multiple woodblocks. Baumann often employed mutedcolors in his prints, and used a system of shifts in light and color to increase spatial effects.

Howard Cook, N.A.Grand Canyon, 1927Woodcut, 12" x 15"

The woodcut print Grand Canon (1919) is one of Baumann's most famous works of art. He createdthis six-color woodcut from five carved printing blocks, and he printed 32 proofs before he achievedthe result he sought. One authority wrote that the print achieves "an evocative illusion of expansive

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space, convincing effects of light, and astirring sense of emotion." Baumannlaconically commented, "This is it suchas it is. Five blocks used. Seven dis-carded. A boom in the lumber busi-ness." (David Acton, Hand of a

Craftsman: The Woodcut Technique of

Gustave Baumann^ 1996, p. 70).

Hiroshi Yoshida

(1876-1950)

Hiroshi Yoshida was a cosmopolitanartist who traveled widely throughoutthe world. Yoshida attended a privateart school in Tokyo. He worked as apainter until about 1920, when hebegan to create woodblock prints. Incontrast to the traditional method ofJapanese woodblock printmaking,where artist, carver and printer weredifferent persons, Yoshida mastered thethree processes himself and closely supervised the carvers and painters that he employed. He lovedlandscapes and particularly mountains. His North American Series, issued in 1925, included imagesof Fishes of Honolulu; til Capitan, Yosemite Valley, Niagara Falls; Mount Rfinier; Morraine Lake;and Grand Canyon. Yoshida wrote that to create Grand Canyon he used eight different blocks witha total of 25 separate impressions.

Gustave BaurnannGrand Canon, 1919Color woodcut, 151/2"x14"

Hiroshi YoshidaGrand Canyon, 1925Color woodcut, 9%" x 14'A"

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NATIVE AMERICANS AT THE GRAND CANYON

Imagine what the first Native Ameri-can who viewed the Grand Canyon

must have thought when he or she firststood upon its rim, unknown thousandsof years ago. Native Americans were thefirst persons to discover the GrandCanyon, and they have inhabited thecanyon and vicinity ever since. Havasu-pai live south of the river in the canyonto the west, Hualapai further downriver,Southern Paiute to the north, and Hopi,Zuni and Navajo to the east. TheseNative American peoples revere thecanyon, and some consider it to be aplace of emergence or origin. NativeAmericans have fascinated many artiststhroughout the world, including severalin this exhibition. Native peoples in thecontext of the great canyon create pow-erful subject matter.

Carl Oscar Borg(1879-1947)

Carl Oscar Borg, A.N.A.The Hush of Evening, C. 1925

Tempera, 34" x 30"

Carl Oscar Borg was born in Sweden in 1879 and showed an early interest in art. Opportunities forhim were few in Sweden, and after a brief apprenticeship in London and some work in the easternUnited States and Canada, he made his way to California in 1903. He worked hard and made friendswho helped him become a better artist and advance hiscareer. A breakthrough occurred when Phoebe Hearst of-fered to sponsor him for five years of study in art whiletraveling in Europe and North Africa. Returning at theoutbreak of World War I, Hearst in 1916 arranged forhim to visit and work in the Hopi, Navajo and GrandCanyon areas of Arizona. The experience deeply affectedBorg, and each year thereafter through 1932 he visited thelands of the Hopi and the Navajo, recording the lifewaysof the native peoples, their portraits, their lands, and thecanyon. A versatile artist, Borg worked in oil, tempera,gouache, watercolor and printmaking techniques of drypointetching and woodblock. Borg won many prestigiousawards for his art, and "was elected an associate of theNational Academy in 1938. He died at Santa Barbara in 1947.

Carl Oscar Borg, A.N.A.

Hopi Prayers at the Grand Canyon, date unknownGouache, 4" x 5"

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Eanger Irving Couse (1866-1936)

E. Irving Couse was born in Saginaw,Michigan in 1866, and developed anearly interest in Native American peo-ples. He was educated in art at the ArtInstitute of Chicago, National Acad-emy of Design, and Academic Julianand Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris.Couse first visited Taos in 1902 and re-turned every summer until 1928, whenhe moved there permanently from NewYork. He was a founder and the firstpresident of the Taos Society ofArtists. Couse traveled to Arizona in1903, sponsored by the Santa Fe Rail-road, where he visited the Hopi cere-monies at Walpi and the GrandCanyon. He was elected a member ofthe National Academy of Design in1911. From 1914 onwards, works byCouse appeared on 22 Santa Fe Railroad calendars, which were distributed annually to 300,000homes, schools and offices. His successful commissions for the Santa Fe Railroad included a 1928image for the SFRR's "Chief." His images of Native Americans became familiar to millions ofAmericans, and contributed to the fame of Taos as an art colony. He often painted idealized Indiansin tranquil, solemn moments or quiet domestic activities. He died at Albuquerque in 1936.

E. Irving Couse, N.A.The Canyon Brink, c. 1932Oil, 8" x 10"

Howard Cook, N.A.Walpi, Arizona, 1927Woodcut, 10" x 12"

E. Irving Couse, N.A.Grand Canyon, 1915Oil, 5" x 6"

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I

EXPLORATION

Europeans and Americans arrived long after NativeAmerican discovery and exploration of the Grand

Canyon. The first Europeans to visit the canyon wereSpaniards from the Coronado expedition in 1540. Mistak-ing the river for a stream, they attempted to descend butabandoned the effort after three days. By the mid-19th cen-tury, United States expeditions were exploring the ColoradoPlateau and the Colorado River. One of the artists in theexhibition, H. B. Mollhausen, participated in two of theseexpeditions, one in 1853-54 and the other in 1857-58.Major John Wesley Powell was the first to completely navi-gate the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Hispopular accounts of the expeditions of 1869 and 1871

Unknown artist, U.S. Geological Survey

An Alcove - in the Red Wall - Kaibab, 1886Lithograph, 8" x 9Vz"

stoked the public's imagination. Later, as head of the United States Geological Survey, he champi-oned scientific mapping of the West. The lithograph, An Alcove—In the Reel Wall—Kaibab, first pub-lished by the USGS in 1886, was reprinted in Powell's Canyons of the Colorado in 1895.

Heinrich Balduin Mollhausen (1825-1905)

Balduin Mollhausen was born in Germany in 1825. He visited the United States three times between1849 and 1858 and participated in two of the earliest United States exploring expeditions to theSouthwest. A protege of Alexander von Humboldt, Mollhausen served as typographer for theWhipple Surveying Expedition in 1853-54, which explored a possible railroad route along the 35thparallel between Arkansas and California. In the Hays Collection, the lithograph from a sketch byMollhausen, Rio Colorado—Near the Mojave Villages (c. 1854), records the expedition crossing the river,documents interaction with Mojave peoples and shows Mojave traditional fishing activities. In 1857-58, Mollhausen joined Lieutenant Joseph Ives' survey of the Colorado River, which advanced from

the river mouth upriver by boat to thearea of today's Hoover Dam, afterwhich they proceeded on foot. InApril, 1858, members of the team

Heinrich B. MollhausenRio Colorado - Near the Mojave Villages, c. 1854

Lithograph from a sketch by the artist, 7 % " x 10"

Heinrich B. Mollhausen

With Ives Expedition, Near Head of Diamond Creek, 1861Lithograph from a sketch by the artist, 7" x 9Vz"

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descended Diamond Creek to the Colorado, and thus probably became the first white men to reachthe bottom of the Grand Canyon. John James Young's lithograph from Mollhausen's image, NearHead of Diamond Creek (1861), records the scene at that historic location at the Lower GraniteGorge. Mollhausen had considerable skill as a watercolorist, and he left a significant record in wordand image of his travels in the West. He later became custodian of the royal libraries at Potsdam,until his death in 1905. Many of his drawings were destroyed during World War II.

Julian Scott (1846-1901)

When the Civil War started, Julian Scottlied about his age and joined the UnionArmy from his native Vermont. Toosmall to be a soldier, Scott became adrummer boy. His heroism in the battleof Lee's Mills during the PeninsularCampaign won him the first Congres-sional Medal of Honor of the CivilWar. He was later severely wounded atthe battle of White Oak Swamp, andhe was introduced to the world of artduring his recuperation in New York.In 1864 he returned to the war, thistime as an artist. He found his calling inrepresenting camp life and battles ofthe war. Later, he was chosen a specialagent for the 1890 census of NativeAmericans, and provided the majorityof the illustrations for the Report onIndians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed.He visited Native Americans in Oklahoma, at the pueblos of Laguna and Acoma in New Mexico,and in the Hopi area of Arizona. He spoke out against government abuses of Native Americans, in-cluding the Indian agent system and boarding school programs,

Morning: View from Shi-Mo-Pa-Vi, Arizona (1891) documents the Hopi mesas from Shimopavi, nowcalled Shongopavi, on Second Mesa, looking east. In the foreground is a kiva, behind which are thecommunities of Second Mesa, with First Mesa towns in the background.

AMERICAN PRESENCE AT THE CANYON

Mountain men came early to the canyon area hoping to exploit its natural bounty, joined byminers and ranchers in the 1870s and 1880s. The first adventurous tourists soon followed.

The number of visitors increased when The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fc Railway System came toFlagstaff in 1882. Visitors to the canyon continued on by stagecoach, arriving east of Grandview Point.

By 1901 the railroad spur from Williams extended north to the south rim of the canyon. The SantaFe Railway built El Tovar Hotel in 1905, designed for a higher clientele. Artists were slow to be

Julian ScottMorning: View from Shi-Mo-Pa-Vi, Arizona, 1891Ink and gouache, 10" x 13"

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attracted to the canyon after the coming of the railroad. The Santa Fe Railway recognized the need

to promote its routes and vigorously marketed travel along its lines, often offering free transporta-

tion and lodging to artists in exchange for works of art recording their experiences. The Santa Fe

also purchased works from artists for promotional purposes, such as for posters, brochures, post-

cards and calendars.

Louis AkinEl Tovar on the Santa Fe, 1906Chromolithograph, 16'/2" x35"

Thomas Moran (1837-1926)

Thomas Moran is one of the greatest American landscape painters. Moran was born in Bolton,Lancashire, England in 1837. Thomas' father emigrated to the United States first, and the family fol-lowed later and arrived in Philadelphia in 1844. In his teens he worked as an engraver, and his elderbrother Edward helped him learn the basics of painting. In 1862, the brothers traveled to England,and Thomas studied the works of J.M.W. Turner. Moran, who loved to work outside, painted an ide-alized beauty in nature throughout his long career. In 1871, Moran seized the opportunity to travelto Yellowstone with the Hayden Expedition, which resulted in many sketches and watercolors andhis monumental painting, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872). In 1873, Moran returned west andvisited the Grand Canyon in the company of John Wesley Powell, and from this trip he producedChasm of the Colorado (1873-74). The United States Congress purchased both works for $10,000 each.He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1884. In 1892 Moran returned to the GrandCanyon, his trip subsidized by the Santa Fe Railroad in exchange for a painting of the canyon. From1901, when the Santa Fe Railroad first reached the canyon, until about 1920, Moran traveled to thecanyon annually with the encouragement and support of the railroad, which often used his nameand images in its promotions and advertising. In 1912, the railroad purchased Grand Canyon ofArizona from Hermit Rim Road, from which it printed 2,500 chromolithographs. Moran, who died atage 89 in 1926 at Santa Barbara, is widely known for his major oil paintings, but he was also a superbwatercolorist and accomplished printmaker of etchings.

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Thomas Moran, N.A.Grand Canyon of Arizona from Hermit Rim Road, 1912Chromolithograph, 25" x 34"

A RIVER FLOWS THROUGH IT

The Colorado is one of the great rivers of the world. Theriver has been one of the principal forces responsihle

for creation of the Grand Canyon. At its deepest, the riverhas cut down 6,000 vertical feet, well over a mile. Measuredalong the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is 277 mileslong and averages 10 miles wide rim to rim. Because of thedifficulty of descending to river level, particularly in the ear-lier decades of the American presence (1880-1920), fewerartists painted the canyon from river level than from the rirn.Three artists in the Hays Collection each recorded differentaspects of the river's changing moods. Gunnar Widforsspaints an area where the river is calm and reflects the canyonwalls above, bathed in light. Borg, in contrast, paints a dra-matic and turbulent river, foreboding sky, and muted colorson the canyon walls (back cover). For Cook, the river forms

Howard Cook, N.A.Colorado River, 1927Woodcut, 141/4"x8Vi"

only a fraction of the scene, above whichrise great dark monoliths capped by thewhite Temple of Isis. It is a modernist,iconic vision of the canyon.

Gunnar M.WidforssColorado River, Grand Canyon, date unknownWatercolor, 171/2"x191/2"

ON THE RIM

There is great ecological and visual diversity along the canyon rim. Noteworthy are different plantand animal communities, dependant upon factors such as elevation, soil types and rainfall. At

the highest elevations, there are forests of ponderosa pine.At slightly lower levels are pinon pine, juniper, and oak.Below the rim, the canyon quickly becomes more arid, withdesert-like conditions and flora, except along the river andits tributaries, where there can be riparian environments.

Several of the artists in the Hays Collection focused upontrees and other vegetation at the rim of the canyon. Burrpresents a wonderfully detailed study of vegetation, whichhe uses to frame the river at the bottom of the canyon.Widforss paints a powerful image with foreground bushesand rocks, tree on the right, and canyon in the distance. ForBorg, the gnarled tree is very much the focus of the master-ful composition, swathed in contrasts of light and shadow.Burgdorff's etching, Grand Canyon, uses vegetation in a waysimilar to Burr, to frame a subject within the canyon. In hisother print, Canyon Rim, Grand Canyon., Arizona., the pine treebecomes the subject of the composition, with the canyonand clouds as backdrop. Lyman Byxbe used trees to form r r l l , n

r. J } George Elbert Burran archway through which one views two great rock out- 77,e Grand Canyon - Plate 3,1931crops within the canyon. Drypoint etching, tr ial proof, 10" x 8'

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Gunnar M. WidforssGrand Canyon of Arizona, 1924Watercolor, 171 /2Hx20"

Ferdinand Burgdorff (1883 -1975)

Carl Oscar Borg.A.N.AOn the Rim, Grand Canyon, 1932Drypoint etching, 10" x 10"

Ferdinand Burgdorff was born in Cleveland and educated in art at the Cleveland School of Art andin Paris. He moved to the Monterey Peninsula of California in 1907, and from then through 1924 hemade many trips to the Hopi area and the Grand Canyon. Sales of his desert paintings in Clevelandin 1911 financed a two-year trip to Europe and North Africa, where he studied ancient Greek andEgyptian civilizations. 1 le settled in Pebble Beach in 1920 and lived there the rest of his life. He isbest known for his images of the California coast and the Monterey Peninsula.

Ferdinand BurgdorffGrand Canyon, 1927Etching, 5" x4"

Ferdinand BurgdorffCanyon Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona, 1927Etching, 8" x 7"

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Lyman Byxbe (1886-1980)

Lyman Byxbe was born in Pitts field,Illinois in 1886 and became a successfulcommercial artist in Omaha, Nebraska,where an architect taught him the art ofetching. Byxbe traveled throughout theWest, making sketches outdoors that helater turned into prints. He visited EstesPark, Colorado in 1922 and movedthere permanently in 1934. A modestman, Byxbe is known for landscapes ofthe West and studies of vegetation. Hewas a member of the Chicago Societyof Etchers, and had a solo exhibition atthe Smithsonian Institution in 1937.Byxbe's delightful The Rim Rack Trailuses vegetation to form an archwaythrough which the viewer sees promi-nent features within the canyon.

Lyman ByxbeThe Rim Rock Trail, date unknownEtching, 5'/2"x63/4"

NEAR THE CANYON ON THE COLORADO PLATEAU

The Grand Canyon cuts across the easternmost section of the Colorado Plateau, a 150,000square mile upland area drained by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Geological and eco-

logical diversity abounds in the areas surrounding the canyon. To the southeast are regions of pon-derosa pine and pirion and juniper woodlands, until, at Flagstaff, the San Francisco Peaks rise to anelevation of 12,643 feet, the highest point in Arizona. To the east and southeast of the canyon arearid high deserts and the canyon and mesa country of the Navajo and the Hop! lands and thePainted Desert.

Carl Oscar Borg,A.N.A.Navajo Country, date unknown.Gouache, 5" x 7"

Carl Oscar Borg,A.N.A.San Francisco Peaks, date unknownGouache, 5" x 7"

George Elbert Burr

San Francisco Mountains, Arizona, c. 1920Color etching, 7" x 10"

The spectacular scenery inspired artists. In various media,they captured mountains and deserts, bright sunlight andsunset, clear sides and magnificent clouds, rain and snow,barren lands and forested peaks. With great skill, GunnarWidforss, Louis Akin, Carl Oscar Borg, George ElbertBurr and Albert Groll recorded and interpreted the diver-sity of the Colorado Plateau.

George Eibert Burr

The Painted Desert, Arizona, 1924

Pastel, 133/4"x101/4"

Albert Lorey Groll (1866-1952)

Albert Groll was born in New York City and educated in art at London and at the Royal Academiesin Munich and Antwerp. Although noted as a Western landscape painter, Groll remained a residentof New York City. He went West with Stuart Culin of the Brooklyn Museum, who was studyingNative American games. He first came toArizona in 1905 and stayed with LorenzoHubbell at his trading post at Ganado.Groll often focused upon landscapes andbig sides with massive cloud formations.He explored the artistic possibilities ofthe arid regions of Arizona, and he alsoworked at Laguna Pueblo in New Mex-ico. He is credited with introducingWTUiam Robinson Leigh, whom he knewfrom Munich, to the Southwest in 1906.Groll was elected to the National Acad-emy of Design in 1910.

Albeit L. Groll, N.A.Sunset, Arizona Desert, 1916

Oil,8Y2"x101/2"

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r

Gunnar M.WidforssNorthern Arizona Desert, date unknownWatercolor, 19'/2"x23"

The Collector: A. P. Hays

Abe and Lalla Hays of Paradise Valley are well known to Mesa Southwest Museum visitors for the exhibition, In the Land of the Ilopiand the Navajo: Carl Oscar Borg, which they lent to the museum in 2004. Abe has collected art and artifacts most of his life, and in1976 founded Arizona West Galleries, now directed by a son, Gregory P. Hays, in Scottsdale. In addition to their Grand Canyon andBorg collections, the Ilayses have major collections of the artists Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), Will James (1892-1942) and LonMegargee (1883-1960), collections which have been shown at major museums. The Dixon collection is now in the second phase of anational tour involving 18 major museums through 2010. Plans are being completed to send the James collection on a second tour ofseveral major museums in the U.S. and Canada. There also are important collections of three artists prominent in the current exhibition,Gunnar Widforss, Edgar Payne and George Klbert Burr. They have many other Western artists in their collection. A daughter-in-law,Trudy Hays, director of Overland Gallery, Scottsdale, and a daughter, Elizabeth Noyd, provide publications and staff assistance for thecollections. A Hays collection of over 800 Western artifacts has been on loan since 1998 to the Desert Caballeros Western Museum inWickenburg. Abe has extensive knowledge of Western art and artifacts, which he generously shares, along with his collections, withmuseums nationwide. Since 1976, the Hayses have loaned and assisted more than 50 museums in 14 sates and Canada, both with art andartifacts and, at times, the two in combination. In addition to the 15 museums in Arizona that they have benefited, there are nine museumsin California, one in Georgia, one in Indiana, three in Montana, one in Nebraska, four in Nevada, four in New Mexico, two in NewYork, four in Oklahoma, one in Tennessee, three in Texas, three in Utah ;md four in Wyoming. There are 85 instances of theirinvolvement with 58 institutions in the U.S. and two in Canada.

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Gunnar M. WidforssEarly Canyon Snow, date unknownWatercoior, 14"x18"

Lou is AkinSan Francisco Peaks, 1907

Oil, 12" x 16"

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GRAND CANYON GRANDEUREarly Paintings and Prints from the Hays Collection

List of Works in Exhibition

Louis Akin (American 1868-1913)

ElTomron the Santa Fe, 1906, chromolithograph , 16'/2" x 35"El Tovar Scene, 1906, chromolithograph, 8"x 17"A B/ue Morning, 1907, oil, 16" x 12"Temple of Ms, 1907, oil, 12" x 8"San flrancisco Peaks, 1907, oil, 12" x 16"

Gustave Baumann (German-American 1881-1971)

Grand Canon, 1919, color woodcut 11/125, 151/2" x 14"

Carl Oscar Borg (Swedish-American 1879-1947)

The Hush of Evening, c. 1925, tempera, 34" x 30"Grand Canyon, no date, tempera, 6^/2" x 6%"Colorado River Gorge, no date, gouache, 5" x 7"Nauajo Country, no date, gouache, 5" x 7"San Francisco Peaks, no date, gouache, 5" x 7"Hop! Prayers at the Grand Canyon, no date, gouache, 4" x 5"On The Rim, Grand Canyon, 1932, drypoint etching, 10" x 10"

Ferdinand Burgdorff (American 1883-1975)

Grand Canyon, 1927, oil, 8"x 10"Canyon Rim, Grand Canyon, 1927, etching, 8" x 7"

i, 1927, etching, 5" x 4"

George Elbert Burr (American 1859-1939)

Grand Canyon, Arizona No. 1, 1921, etching,12" x 10"The Grand Canyon, Plate 3, 1931, etching, 10" x 8"San Francisco Mountains, Arizona, c.1920, color etching, 7"x 10"The Pain ted Desert, Arizona, 1924, pastd, 13%" x 10 %"

Lyman Byxbe (American 1886-1980)

The Rim Rock Trail, date unknown, etching, SVz" x 63/4M

Howard Cook (American 1901-1980)

Colorado River, 1927, woodcut, 14%" x 8VVGrandCanyon, 1927, woodcut, 12" x 15"Walpi, Arizona, 1927, woodcut, 10" x 12"

Banger Irving Couse (American 1866-1936)

GrandCanyon, 1915, oil, 5"x 6"The Canyon Brink, c. 1932, oil, 8" x 10"

Edwin Gledhill (American 1888-1976)

Portrait of Carl Oscar Rorg, c. 1910, photograph, 7" x 6"

Albert Lotey Groll (American 1866-1952)

Sunset, Arizona Desert, 1916, oil, SVi" x lO'/z"

William Robinson Leigh (American 1866-1955)

GrandCanyon of Arizona, 1909, oil, 20" x 16"

Heinrich Balduin Mollhausen (German 1825-1905)

With Ives Expedition, Near Head of Diamond Creek, 1861,lithograph, 7" x 91/211

Rio Colorado-Near the Mojave Villages, c.1854, lithograph, 7%" x 10"

Thomas Moran (English-American 1837-1926)

GrandCanyon of Arizona from Hermit Rim Road, 1912,chromolithograph, 25" x 34"

Sheldon Parsons (American 1866-1943)

Grand Canyon Series, No. 15, 1916, oil, 12" x 9"

Edgar Alwin Payne (American 1883-1947)

Grand Canyon from Mather Point, c. 1925, oil 16" x 20"

Julian Scott (American 1846-1901)

George Gardner Symons (American 1861-1930)

Grand Canyon, 1914, oil, 6" x 9"

Unknown Artist, U. S. Geological Survey

AnAlcom-mtbeRedWall-Kaibab, 1886, lithograph, 8" x 9%"

Unknown Photographer

c.l 925,photograph, 3" x 5

Unknown Photographers(Three stereoviews of the Grand Canyon, Keystone View Company)

ElTovar Hotel, South EJm, c. 1905, 31/z" x 7"Thomas Moran Sketching at Yavapai Point, c. 1912, 3 'A" x 7"GrandCanyon Lodge, North Rim, 1928, 3'/2" x 7"

Gunnar Mauritz Widforss (Swedish -American 1879-1934}

Grandeur Point, Grand Canyon, no date, watercolor, 25V211 x 193A"GrandCanyon of Arizona, 1924, watercolor, 17 Yz" x 20"Early Canyon Snow, no date, watercolor, 14" x 18"Colorado River, GrandCanyon, no date, watercolor, IVVi" x 19'/2"Grand Canyon, 1924, watercolor, 20" x 16"Bright Angel, GrandCanyon, no date, watercolor, 21 W x 18"Grand Canyon, Grand 'View, no date, watercolor, 29'/2" x 24"Northern Arizona Desert, no date, watercolor, 19'/2" x 23"GrandCanyon Vista, 1924, watercolor, 12" x 10 'A"

, 1924, watercolor, 7Vz" x lOW

Frederick Ballard Williams (American 1871-1956)

Grand Vmv, 1910, oil, 8!/z" x 101/."

Hiroshi Yoshida (Japanese 1876-1950)

Grand Canyon, 1925, color woodcut, 10" x 14Vz"

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Back Cover

Carl Oscar Borg,A.N.A.Colorado River Gorge, date unknown

Gouache 5" x7"