Edgar Payne signature and authentication guide
What auction catalogues actually record about Payne's signatures, inscriptions and labels, and what to photograph if you want an opinion on a painting you own. This page describes documented examples; it is not a substitute for examination by a specialist.
How the signature appears in catalogues
Major auction houses describe signed Payne paintings in a consistent way. In the examples below, all oil paintings, the signature reads "Edgar Payne" and is placed at the lower left. Some catalogues print it in capitals ("EDGAR PAYNE"), which reflects how it was lettered on that painting.
| Painting | Catalogue description | Sale |
|---|---|---|
| Brittany Boats | signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left), titled on the reverse | Bonhams, 2025 |
| View Across Dragon Lake | signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left), study of Navajos on horseback on the reverse | Bonhams, 2021 |
| Monument Valley, Riverbed | signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), titled on the stretcher bar | Bonhams, 2016 |
| Lake Lucerne, Switzerland | signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), titled on the reverse | Bonhams, 2014 |
| Valley of St. Gervais | signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), oil on canvas affixed to board | Bonhams, 2013 |
| First Lake, Near Big Pine, California | signed lower left; gallery label on the verso | Coeur d'Alene, 2024 |
These are examples, not a rule. A lower-left signature does not prove a painting is by Payne, and a signature in another position does not prove it is not. What matters is whether the signature belongs to the paint surface and to a painting that is consistent with Payne's work.
Look at the back
The catalogue entries above show how much information can be on the reverse: titles written on the canvas or stretcher bar, gallery and exhibition labels, and occasionally a second painting. View Across Dragon Lake has a study of Navajos on horseback on its reverse. Photograph the back in full, plus a close-up of every label and inscription, before anything is removed or relined.
Titles and dates can change
The same painting can appear under different titles. Bonhams' 2021 entry for View Across Dragon Lake, Looking Southwest, Kings Canyon National Park notes that it sold at Bonhams in 2017 as Sierra Lake Beneath Glaciers. Catalogues also differ on Payne's birth year: Christie's and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have used 1882, while Wikipedia, Bonhams and the UC Irvine Langson museum give 1883. Neither difference is a sign of a problem by itself.
Edgar Payne or Elsie Palmer Payne?
Elsie Palmer Payne (1884–1971), Edgar's wife, was a painter and commercial artist with her own body of work. A painting signed with the Payne surname should be checked carefully for which Payne signed it.
What to photograph for an opinion
- The whole front, straight on, in daylight, with the frame.
- A sharp close-up of the signature.
- The whole back, and close-ups of every label, stamp and inscription.
- The size of the painted surface without the frame, and whether it is on canvas, board or canvasboard.
- Anything known about its history: receipts, letters, family photographs, earlier appraisals or exhibition records.
Please do not clean, revarnish or restore a painting before it has been examined. Owners who want an opinion can send photographs to Steven Stern Fine Arts for a free, confidential evaluation. For deeper research, the 2012 catalogue Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey reproduces many documented works.
Sources
- Bonhams, California & Western Art Online, 30 July–8 Aug. 2025, lot 440, Brittany Boats, signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left), titled on the reverse, oil on canvas, 28 1/8 × 34 1/8 in., sold for $33,280 inc. premium. bonhams.com.
- Bonhams, California Art, 3 Aug. 2021, lot 82, View Across Dragon Lake, Looking Southwest, Kings Canyon National Park, signed 'EDGAR PAYNE' (lower left), with a study of Navajos on horseback on the reverse, oil on canvas, 25 × 30 in., sold for $62,812.50; provenance notes an April 11, 2017 Bonhams sale "as 'Sierra Lake Beneath Glaciers'". bonhams.com.
- Bonhams, California and Western Paintings & Sculpture, 2 Aug. 2016, lot 78, Monument Valley, Riverbed, signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), titled on the stretcher bar, sold for $323,000; exhibited in The Irvine Museum's Masters of Light international tour, 2002–2004. bonhams.com.
- Bonhams, California & Western Paintings & Sculpture, 8 April 2014, lot 86, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), titled on the reverse, oil on canvas, 29 × 29 in., sold for $112,500. bonhams.com.
- Bonhams, California and Western Paintings & Sculpture, 6 Aug. 2013, lot 54, Valley of St. Gervais, signed 'Edgar Payne' (lower left), oil on canvas affixed to board, 12 × 16 in., sold for $11,875. bonhams.com.
- Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, 2024, lot 37, First Lake, Near Big Pine, California, oil on canvas, 25 × 30 in., "signed lower left," with a gallery label on the verso. cdaartauction.com.
- Christie's, California, Western and American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Beverly Hills, 30 April 2008, lot 21, Edgar Alwin Payne, Riders on Horseback, price realised US$553,000. christies.com.
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, artist record "Edgar Payne" and Fifth Lake, ca. 1928 (1957.10.6). americanart.si.edu/artist/edgar-payne-3715.
- UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art, Edgar Payne, Snow in the High Sierras (acquired 2021; "Langson IMCA's collection includes eight other paintings by Payne"). langson.uci.edu/high-payne.
- Wikipedia, "Edgar Payne" (citing Scott A. Shields et al., Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey, 2012; the 1900 U.S. Census; American Art Annual). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Payne, accessed Oct. 2026.
- Scott A. Shields, Patricia Trenton, Lisa N. Peters, Peter H. Hassrick and Jean Stern, Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey (Pasadena Museum of California Art / Pomegranate, 2012), 272 pp., ISBN 9780764960536. Library record: wyldcatalog.org.