GRANVILLE SEYMOUR REDMOND (1886-1935)                Artist Images

One of California's most notable Impressionist painters and considered the first resident Impressionist of that state, Granville Redmond is known for his landscapes, many of them florals with poppies and lupines. He was also one of the first Tonalist painters of California, a subdued monchromatic style of haze, fog and moonlight that reportedly "he was more drawn to". . .(Gerdts 27). Redmond was also a popular personality and held friendships with many celebrities in the arts, despite certain physical handicaps of his own most especially deafness..

He was born in Philadelphia with the name Grenville Richard Seymour Redmond. At the age of two and a half, he became totally deaf due to scarlet fever, and lived his whole life without hearing or speech. In 1874, the family moved to San Jose, and from 1879 to 1890, he attended the California School of the Deaf in Berkeley. There his art teacher, Theophilus D'Estrella, who was also deaf, was a major influence, and Redmond decided to continue art studies at the San Francisco School of Design. His teachers included Arthur Mathews and Amedee Joullion.

Redmond distinguished himself, winning the W.E. Brown medal of excellence, and in 1893 was awarded funds from the California School of the Deaf which made it possible for him to study in Paris at the Academie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. At the Academie Julian, he roomed with sculptor Douglas Tilden, another graduate of the California School for the Deaf. While in Paris, Redmond distinguished himself once again, when in 1895 his large canvas, Matin d'Hiver, was accepted for the Paris Salon.

At the California School of Design he had became acquainted with many other artists, including Tonalists Gottardo Piazzoni, with whom Redmond made several painting trips around California, and Giuseppe Cadenasso, to whom he gave encouragement. Piazzoni learned sign language and he and Redmond were lifelong friends. They roomed together in Parkfield, California, and also in Tiburon. At that time, it was difficult for artists and would-be artists in San Francisco and in the West to find ways to practice their fine art. Opportunities in commercial illustration were a little brighter, and Redmond and many other artists were drawn to newspapers and local magazines such as the Overland Monthly as sources of revenue.
 

Continued