09/03/2026
Edgar Alwin Payne (1883-1947)
"TUNA BOATS AT CONCARNEAU"
Oil on canvas
26" x 30"
Biography
Edgar Alwin Payne was born in Washburn, Missouri on March 1, 1883. Except for a brief period at the Art Institute of Chicago, he remained a self-taught artist. On his first visit to California in 1909, he spent several months painting in Laguna Beach before visiting San Francisco. During his stay north, he met artist Elsie Palmer, whom he would marry on November 1912 in Chicago. In 1917, he returned to California with a commission from Chicago’s Congress Hotel for a mural. In 1918 the Paynes established a home and studio in Laguna Beach where he organized and became the first president of the local art association. He continued painting and exhibiting in Los Angeles and Laguna until 1922 when he and his wife, Elsie, began a two-year painting tour of Europe. They traveled from coast to coast in the U.S. until 1932 when they returned to Hollywood and the following year separated. Payne is internationally famous for his canvases depicting Indians riding through the desert canyons and landscapes of the Sierra Nevada. Payne Lake in the High Sierra is named for him. He died in Hollywood, CA on April 8, 1947.
