Artful Players: Artistic Life in Early San Francisco

Los Angeles: Balcony Press, 1999. Cloth, 256 pages, illustrations (some colour); 24 cm. Near fine. Tight, clean copy. Light edgewear to boards. Stated First Printing. Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. "With a handful of wealthy Gold Rush barons as indulgent patrons, an active community of artists appeared in nineteenth-century San Francisco almost overnight. A subculture of artistic brilliance and social experimentation was the result--in essence, a decades-long revelry that finally ended with the 1906 earthquake. Witness Jules Tavernier, hungry and in debt, accepting a stuffed peacock and two old dueling pistols in payment for a Yosemite landscape; Mark Twain as reluctant art critic; Oscar Wilde outdrinking his hosts at the Bohemian Club, declaring he had never before seen 'so many well-dressed, well-fed, business-like looking Bohemians.' Prolific production of some of America's greatest paintings developed into a distinctly California style. Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, and William Keith were among the many artists who documented Yosemite Valley and the state's other natural wonders. Grace Hudson's paintings are still considered some of the finest records of Native American culture. / Birgitta Hjalmarson covered the San Francisco art beat as a contributing editor for New York based Art & Auction from 1983 to 1989. Her work has also appeared in Antiques , Southwest Art , and Antiques West." - Publisher.. 1st. Hardcover. Very Good/Fine. 8vo. Collectible.