Here’s California at its most dramatic—an early 20th-century oil painting by William M. Lemos. Painted circa 1910, this piece captures the eerie beauty and raw destruction of a wildfire sweeping through a pine forest. You can practically feel the heat coming off the canvas, with glowing red-orange light licking through silhouetted trees, while a haze of smoke hangs in the sky like a ghost. The brushwork is dark and moody, and the scene toes the line between natural wonder and natural disaster. It’s housed in a thick, original pie crust frame with a warm, crusty patina that pairs perfectly with the subject matter. Lemos, who had ties to both Yosemite and the California plein air movement, doesn’t shy away from emotion in this one.
Two unnoticeable repairs on back.
Here’s California at its most dramatic—an early 20th-century oil painting by William M. Lemos. Painted circa 1910, this piece captures the eerie beauty and raw destruction of a wildfire sweeping through a pine forest. You can practically feel the heat coming off the canvas, with glowing red-orange light licking through silhouetted trees, while a haze of smoke hangs in the sky like a ghost. The brushwork is dark and moody, and the scene toes the line between natural wonder and natural disaster. It’s housed in a thick, original pie crust frame with a warm, crusty patina that pairs perfectly with the subject matter. Lemos, who had ties to both Yosemite and the California plein air movement, doesn’t shy away from emotion in this one.
Two unnoticeable repairs on back.
