Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Residence of Theodore Finger, Redwood City, 1878 |
Object Name |
Lithograph |
Description |
Residence of Theodore Finger, Redwood City, 1878. Moore & DePue lithograph by Grafton Tyler Brown. Colorized lithograph by Grafton Tyler Brown printed on paper and mounted behind glass beneath an off-white mat with a gold-colored inner border inside a brown wooden frame. Image depicts a white wooden building and more outbuildings farmland with an orchard and crops. There are treed hills in the background. |
Date |
1878 |
Creator |
Brown, Grafton Tyler |
Role |
Artist |
Creator |
G.T. Brown & CO. LITH., S.F. |
Role |
Lithographer |
Creator |
Moore & DePue |
Role |
Publisher |
Medium |
Lithograph |
Catalog Number |
1998.117.028 |
Dimensions |
H-17.625 W-19.5 D-1.25 inches |
Dimension Details |
frame; image is 9.75 x 12.75 |
Collection |
Three-Dimensional Collection |
Inscription Text |
"MOORE & DE PUE, PUB. S.F. / G. T. Brown & Co. Lith. S.F. / Residence of Theodore Finger. / REDWOOD CITY, SAN MATEO CO.CAL." (printed beneath image); "The / Framery / of Sonoma / Custom Framing / & Art Gallery / Scott Wm. Sherman / 762 (inscription cont.) Broadway; P.O. Box 417 / Sonoma, California 95476 / (707) 996-4744" (white label on frame backing); "19" (handwritten on yellow masking tape affixed to back) |
Notes |
Grafton Tyler Brown (February 22, 1841 – March 2, 1918) was an American painter, lithographer and cartographer. Brown was the first African-American artist to create works depicting the Pacific Northwest and California. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafton_Tyler_Brown 1/5/2022] Moore & DePue. In 1878, publishers Elliott S. Moore and James De Pue saw opportunity in San Mateo County... Brown divided production of sixty-four views with Britton & Rey, and the larger firm produced... twenty-two views along the Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way, including fourteen in the county seat. While Britton & Rey canvassed the more prestigious areas, Brown sketched forty-one farms, residences, and businesses. Of fourteen views that filled two pages, Brown did eleven. Each lithographer used distinctive corner ornaments. Furthermore, Britton & Rey did the county map, while Brown provided the illustrated title page as his forty-second view. Brown's views illustrate his more sophisticated sense of contour and color of mountains, as well as the interplay of sky, cloud, and shadow, while Britton & Rey emphasized foreground people, horses, and houses and their shadows. Brown's shading of hills and clouds adds more depth than is normally found in scenes where the artist's view was expected only to inventory the property of the paying customer. After seven months of production, Moore and DePue praised the "skill and artistic finish" of the plates included in their Illustrated History of San Mateo County, and through the Redwood City newspaper on November 30, 1878, declared that "we are now delivering [them] to our subscribers." For those with second thoughts, the publishers offered, "a limited number can be purchased of our delivering agents while on their route. Price ten dollars." Today, this county history is in great demand. - Robert J. Chander, San Francisco Lithographer: African American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown (2014), pages 146-148. [https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/69670/california-san-mateo-county-moore-de-pues-illustrated-brown-co-depue-moore 1/5/2022] |
Search Terms |
Lithographs Brown, Grafton Tyler Moore & DePue Finger, Theodore |
Subjects |
Lithographs Lithography Houses Farms Farmhouses Farming Croquet |
People |
Brown, Grafton Tyler Finger, Theodore |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Assistance League of San Mateo County |