Edgar Alwin PayneLife, work & market · 1883–1947

Edgar Payne timeline: a chronology, 1883–1947

Key dates in the life and career of Edgar Alwin Payne, with the source for each entry. Bracketed numbers refer to the source list below.

  1. 1883March 1: born in Barry County, Missouri. Wikipedia and Wikidata record 1883; Christie's and some library records use 1882, and Wikidata lists both dates. [1, 2, 3]
  2. 1900The U.S. Census lists the family in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas; his father is a carpenter and Edgar a carpenter's apprentice. [1]
  3. 1900sPaints houses, signs, portraits, murals and theater scenery while traveling the Ozarks, the Southeast and the Midwest. In Chicago he enrolls at the School of the Art Institute but leaves after about two weeks; exhibits at the Palette and Chisel Club. [1]
  4. 1909First trip to California: several months painting at Laguna Beach, then San Francisco, where he meets Elsie Palmer (1884–1971). [1]
  5. 1911Second trip to California. [1]
  6. 1912November 9: marries Elsie Palmer. [1]
  7. 1914Daughter Evelyn is born. [1]
  8. 1915–c.1919Professional address at the Tree Studio Building, East Ohio Street, Chicago. In 1915 the family visits the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. [1]
  9. 1916First trip into the Sierra Nevada. [1]
  10. 1917Commissioned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to paint the Southwest; spends four months at Canyon de Chelly with Elsie. Paints a mural on about 11,000 square yards of muslin for the Congress Hotel, Chicago, in a rented warehouse in Glendale. [1]
  11. 1918Settles in Laguna Beach. With Anna Hills and other artists forms the Laguna Beach Art Association and becomes its first president. Gold medal, California State Fair (silver medal 1919). [4, 1, 5]
  12. 1921Summer in Carmel-by-the-Sea; exhibits at the Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club. [1]
  13. 1922–1924Paints in Europe: Brittany, Paris, Provence, Switzerland and Venice. The Great White Peak (Mont Blanc) receives an honorable mention at the Paris Salon, spring 1923. [1]
  14. 1926President of the California Art Club (May–December). Moves to New York. [6, 1]
  15. 1928Returns to Europe to paint the harbors of Brittany and Chioggia. [1]
  16. 1929The Laguna Beach Art Association opens its gallery designed by Myron Hunt, today the Steele Gallery of the Laguna Art Museum. [4]
  17. 1932Buys a Los Angeles studio-home; Edgar and Elsie separate and he moves to a studio-home on Seward Street, Hollywood. [1]
  18. 1941Publishes Composition of Outdoor Painting. [1, 5]
  19. 1946Diagnosed with cancer; Elsie returns to care for him. [1]
  20. 1947April 8: dies in Los Angeles. [1]
  21. 1952Elsie Palmer Payne's bronze relief portrait of Edgar, now at the Laguna Art Museum. [1]
  22. 1971June 17: Elsie Palmer Payne dies. [1]
  23. 2002–2004Monument Valley, Riverbed tours internationally in The Irvine Museum's exhibition Masters of Light: Plein-Air Painting in California 1890–1930. [7]
  24. 2008April 30: Riders on Horseback sells for $553,000 at Christie's, Beverly Hills. [3, 8]
  25. 2012–2013Retrospective Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey: Crocker Art Museum (Feb. 11–May 6, 2012), Pasadena Museum of California Art (June 3–Oct. 14, 2012), Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa (Dec. 1, 2012–Mar. 24, 2013). [9, 10]
  26. 2022July: Canyon de Chelly (ca. 1916–19) sells for $484,000 at the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction. [11]

For the full story see the Edgar Payne biography.

Sources

  1. 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.
  2. Wikidata, "Edgar Alwin Payne" (Q3047478), which records both 1 March 1883 and 1 March 1882 as dates of birth. wikidata.org/wiki/Q3047478.
  3. 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.
  4. Laguna Art Museum, "Our History" (1918 founding of the Laguna Beach Art Association; 1929 gallery by Myron Hunt). lagunaartmuseum.org/history.
  5. 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.
  6. California Art Club, "Edgar Payne – 9th CAC President, May–Dec. 1926." californiaartclub.org.
  7. 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.
  8. MutualArt, "Edgar Alwin Payne" (record since 1998: Riders on Horseback, Christie's Los Angeles, 2008, US$553,000). mutualart.com.
  9. Traditional Fine Arts Organization, "Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey" (Crocker Art Museum press material, 2012). tfaoi.org/aa/10aa/10aa40.htm.
  10. 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.
  11. ArtSell, "Edgar Alwin Payne auction prices" (431 lots offered 2005–2026; record Canyon de Chelly, ca. 1916–19, Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, July 2022, $484,000; Arizona Indians, Scottsdale Art Auction, April 2022, $438,750; median about $27,500). artsell.art, accessed Oct. 2026.

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