Christian August Jorgensen Bay Signed.

JORGENSEN, Christian August; [Virgil W. Jorgensen].

$3,800.00

Item Number: 147520

Rare original watercolor painting of Emerald Bay. Folio, a dark, moody impression of Emerald Bay at the southeast corner of Lake Tahoe, by the noted Norwegian-American landscape painter Christian August Jorgensen. Annotated on the verso by his son and inaccurately titled: “Emerald Lake – Lake Tahoe. This painting was made by my father Chris Jorgensen in (or about) 1925. Signed Virgil W. Jorgensen, 8/11/36.” In very good condition with a few small pinholes to the edges, light horizontal crease to the top edge, evidence of framing to the margins, paper and glue residue to the verso.

Christian August Jorgensen is best known for his paintings of Yosemite Valley and the California Missions. He emigrated to the United States with his widowed mother at age ten, and began attending the new San Francisco School of Design at age 14. Among his influences were Virgil Williams and Thomas Hill. By 1881 he was an instructor at the school, and fell in love with and eventually married one of his students, Angela Ghirardelli, heiress to the Ghirardelli chocolate fortune. Jorgensen is known to have preferred watercolor to oil painting, unusual for the time. Jorgensen's Emerald Bay is dark, perhaps purposefully as a nighttime view.