Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame

There is something particularly compelling about California painted before the postwar boom — open land, enormous hills and very little between you and the horizon. This signed landscape by Lawrence A. Brunner (b.1883) dates to his years in Los Angeles during the 1930s–40s. Brunner studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Cincinnati Art Academy under noted American painter Frank Duveneck, and later exhibited with Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles from 1938–1947. Loose, confident brushwork gives the mountains weight without overworking them, while the strip of luminous green across the valley floor pulls the eye deep into the landscape. It is an atmospheric piece of pre-war California regional art — understated from across the room and much richer when viewed closely. The painting is presented in a later gold wood frame, bringing warmth and scale without overpowering the painting. At 24.5 inches wide, it works beautifully on its own or incorporated into a collection of California landscapes, Western art and historic photography.