Percy (Henry Percy) Gray (1869 - 1952) Coastline
Medium : Watercolor on paper
Size: 4 3/4 " x 7 1/4 "
Frame Size: 9 1/8 " x 11 1/8"
Condition:
Great, no visible damage
Age: 20th

Provenance:
Private Collection from New York


Biography

Percy Gray is considered one of California’s most important historical artists and more specifically, one of the state’s signature watercolorists.

Born in San Francisco in 1869 to a family with an artistic heritage, Gray’s grandparents (on his father’s side) were painters in England. Other relatives were involved in the arts as well. After realizing he, too, had inherited a passion for art, Gray eventually enrolled at the California School of Design in San Francisco at the age of sixteen. During this period, he also spent time conscientiously observing and visually cataloging the Northern California landscape with fellow artists such as John Gamble. After working as an illustrator for newspapers in San Francisco and New York City, by 1906 he was back in the Bay Area and began his full-time career as a landscape painter.

Grey originally started working with oils. However, he became allergic to these materials, prompting his switch to watercolor, the medium for which he is best remembered today. Throughout his career his style was reminiscent of the Barbizon School artists and is often described as “tonal”: grays, browns, and greens were usually his palette of choice. This individualistic approach set him apart from many of his contemporaries who were more interested in “Impressionism” and the lighting effects the sun had on their subjects. Gray frequently preferred to paint on overcast days, typical of Northern California. His paintings of clouds and moody skies above the trees made for a romantic, poetic expression. The inclusion of wildflowers in his paintings also contributed to the romantic theme found in his work.

Creating visual poetry, large eucalyptus and oak trees are abundant in his watercolors, as well as cypress trees when his studio was located in Monterey; all very characteristic of the California landscape where he lived and traveled. Gray spent his last years back in Marin County continuing to paint until his death in 1952. Today, Percy Gray is unquestionably considered one of the most successful and well-known landscape painters to have worked in California during the early 20th Century. His work has been exhibited at many public institutions including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Oakland Museum, Santa Barbara Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Monterey Museum of Art.


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