Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Gordon's Chute & Ranch of A. Gordon, San Gregorio, 1878 |
Object Name |
Lithograph |
Description |
Gordon's Chute & Ranch of A. Gordon, San Gregorio, 1878. Moore & DePue lithograph by Grafton Tyler Brown. Black and white framed lithograph depicting the Residence of A. Gordon of Redwood City, his ranch in San Gregorio, and Gordon's Chute in San Mateo County. Image shows two separate large square images with a small oval image inset over the two at the top. The left image depicts Gordon's Chute, located at the edge of a rocky cliff looking over the ocean. Many wooden buildings are clustered at the edge, including one long building that men are loading many piles of something into. Many horse-drawn wagons and men on horseback surround the buildings. At the edge of the cliff, a wooden ramp goes over the edge and slowly descends to the water, where goods are being loaded onto a ship below. There are steamships and sailboats on the water in the background. The right image is of A. Gordon's ranch, a small white house nestled at the bottom of a hill in a tree-filled, fenced-in yard. To the left of the house is a barn, which opens up to a large, fenced-in field where men are bailing hay. A tree-lined dirt road, upon which a two-horse drawn carriage is traveling, leads to the house. In the foreground is a large field on a hill, upon which a man on four-hourse drawn machinery is working and a fenced-in well sits. The top inset image is a close-up of a two-story Victorian style house in a fenced-in yard with trees and dirt pathways leading to the house. Printed on white paper, mounted under glass into a black plastic frame. |
Date |
1878 |
Creator |
Brown, Grafton Tyler |
Role |
Artist |
Creator |
G.T. Brown & CO. LITH., S.F. |
Role |
Lithographer |
Creator |
Moore & DePue |
Role |
Publisher |
Catalog Number |
2011.034.011 |
Dimensions |
H-14.125 W-30 D-0.625 inches |
Dimension Details |
Overall. |
Collection |
Three-Dimensional Collection |
Inscription Text |
"101" (top right of print); "RESIDENCE OF A. GORDON, REDWOOD CITY." (under top middle image); "Moore & De Pue, Pub. S.F. Lith G.T.Brown & Co. S. F. / GORDON'S CHUTE, SAN MATEO CO. CAL. RANCH OF A. GORDON, SAN GREGORIO SAN MATEO CO. CAL." (beneath image) |
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 |
Barns Cliffs Farming Gordon's Chute Gordon, A. Hills Horse Back Riding Horse Drawn Vehicles Horses Lithographs Ranch Houses Redwood City San Gregorio Ships Steamships Water |
Subjects |
Lithographs Lithography Redwood City Cliffs Oceans Horses Horseback riding Boats Ships Steamboats Water Ranches Hills Hay Wells |
People |
Gordon, A. |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Brenda Beckett |