Edgar Payne. Edgar Alwin Payne was an American artist known for his masterful landscape paintings, particularly of the American West.
Born in Washburn, Missouri, Payne was largely self-taught and began his career as a house painter and scene painter for theaters. In 1909, he moved to California, where he became associated with the California Impressionist movement.
Payne is best known for his expansive depictions of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley, capturing the rugged beauty of these landscapes with broad, dynamic brushstrokes and vibrant color. In addition to his Western scenes, Payne also traveled extensively in Europe between 1922 and 1924, painting alpine landscapes in France, Italy, and Switzerland.
His work during this period included village scenes and mountain vistas, influenced by European plein air painting techniques. Payne wrote Composition of Outdoor Painting, a well-regarded guide to landscape painting, which is still used by artists today.
Throughout his career, Payne exhibited widely and became a prominent figure in American landscape painting, contributing to major exhibitions at institutions like the National Academy of Design and the Art Institute of Chicago. He was also a founding member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. Payne continued to paint landscapes until his death in 1947 in Hollywood, California. His works remain highly res