Lot 16: William Hahn (1829-1887) The Return Trip from Glacier Point 34 1/2 x 26 1/2in overall: 49 x 42in

William Hahn (1829-1887)
The Return Trip from Glacier Point signed, inscribed and dated 'Wm Hahn/San Francisco/1874' (lower right)oil on canvas34 1/2 x 26 1/2inoverall: 49 x 42inPainted in 1874
Provenance: The artist.Thence by family descent until 1969.Jack's Antiques, Berkeley, California.John H. Garzoli, San Rafael, California until circa 1970.Anthony R. White, Hillsborough, California.Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco, California, until circa 1982.Shaklee Corporation Collection, San Diego, California.Leonard Green Collection, Los Angeles, California.Private collection, San Rafael, California.ExhibitedOakland, The Oakland Museum, William Hahn, Genre Painter 1829-1887, June 15 - August 29, 1976.LiteratureMarjorie Dakin Arkelian, William Hahn, Genre Painter 1829-1887, Oakland, Oakland Museum, 1976, fig. 17, p. 27, illustrated.Amy Scott, ed., Art of An American Icon: Yosemite, University of California Press, 2006, page 50, illustrated.Carl Wilhelm Hahn — called 'Theodor' by his family — was born in 1829 in Ebersbach, a village in Saxony, Germany. At age 15, Hahn began his artistic training full-time at the Roy Academy of Art in Dresden. Over the next five years, under the tutelage of Ludwig Richter, Hahn acquired a faculty with figure and animal painting. Hahn would go on to spend seven years in the studio of the portrait and historical painter Julius Hubner. It was under Hubner that Hahn made a name for himself winning prizes in 1849 and 1851. After 1854, Hahn was active in both Dresden and Dusseldorf. Prevailing artistic trends in the region moved away from overly sentimentalized genre treatments towards more natural or realistic depictions — this remained influential on Hahn throughout his career. Due to the nature of Dusseldorf's artist community, there is little doubt that Hahn met American artists beginning in the 1850s as both academic and independent artists mingled in the city and a number of Americans came to study in Germany. By 1869, William Keith and William Hahn were on friendly terms and the two artists shared a studio in Boston beginning in 1871. The other studio inhabitants were Virgil Williams, John Ross Key and Thomas Hill. In 1872, William Keith returned to California and his traveling companion was William Hahn. Their timing was fortuitous as there was an explosion of wealth in California at the time and artistic patronage made many of the artists quite prosperous. Hahn rapidly settled into the San Francisco artistic milieu joining the Art Association, the Graphic Club and the Bohemian Club. His social obligations did not hinder his production and he was described at indefatigable. The San Francisco Examiner on November 10, 1874 published of the three Yosemite paintings and their creator: 'W. Hahn has put his shoulder to the wheel manfully, and... shows that we have an artist among us who could hold his own in any European Gallery.' In the classic mode of a formally trained genre painter, a white horse often features prominently to anchor a composition, and indeed Hahn does this in the other two pictures in the series. In this case, Hahn uses the white garments of the woman at center right to anchor the composition. Starting with the woman at lower right, Hahn utilizes a serpentine progression of riders, which draws one's eyes up the picture plane — after one has stopped for refreshing visual drink of the center of the composition. The artist's viewpoint is essentially that of the viewer as if another member of the party is just a moment ahead looking back. Hahn's use of light also reflects his formal training, the foreground is in shadow folding in the viewer while the upper two-thirds of the painting is washed in the bright Sierra sunlight despite the crowding trees on the trail. The present lot is one of series of paintings representing the mounting interest in Yosemite as a tourist destination. The center panel, The View from Glacier Point, is owned by the California Historical Society in San Francisco. The Trip to Glacier Point is privately owned. In The Return Trip from Glacier Point we see the same elegantly attired party on horses and mules as featured in the other two paintings. Two of the intrepid travelers are stopping in the shade to water the horses and themselves while the rest of the party descends to the flat area. Built as a horse toll trail in 1872 by James McCauley, it was initially known as the Four Mile Trail. This trio of paintings is considered by many to be amongst Hahn's most significant, and certainly most famous works.