Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Grand Hotel of Redwood City, 1878 |
Object Name |
Lithograph |
Description |
Grand Hotel of Redwood City, 1878. Moore & DePue lithograph by Grafton Tyler Brown hand-colored by Herbert Dengler of Portola Valley. Hand-painted framed lithograph depicting the Grand Hotel of Redwood City. Two-story white wooden hotel sits on a corner lot and has signs below the roof, in front of the main door and in a window that say, "Grand Hotel." Sign in front of door also says, "John Crowley." There are people sitting, standing, and walking on the boardwalk that wraps around the hotel and a two-horse-drawn black enclosed carriage is traveling on the dirt road out front. Printed on white paper, mounted under glass into a gold colored wooden frame with an off-white mat with a blue and orange edge. |
Date |
1878 |
Catalog Number |
1987.040.006 |
Collection |
Three-Dimensional Collection |
Creator |
Brown, Grafton Tyler |
Role |
Artist |
Creator |
G.T. Brown & CO. LITH., S.F. |
Role |
Lithographer |
Creator |
Moore & DePue |
Role |
Publisher |
Inscription Text |
"Moore & DePue, Pub.S.F. Lith. G. T.Brown & Co.S.F. / BRITTON, REY&CO.LITH.S.F. / GRAND HOTEL,REDWOOD CITY,San Mateo Co.Cal. JOHN CROWLEY Prop." (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] Herb Dengler was born and raised in Palo Alto, where he attended Palo Alto schools, and graduated from Stanford with a degree in zoology… Mr. Dengler became the spirit of Jasper Ridge. With his encyclopedic knowledge of every rock and tree and insect, and his unfailing enthusiasm, he was a key player in establishing the 1,200-acre Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, which he continued visiting almost until his death last week. [Portola Valley artist and naturalist Herb Dengler dies By Marion Softky. Wednesday, September 25, 2002. https://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2002/2002_09_25.dengler.html 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] |
Dimensions |
H-11.625 W-15 D-0.75 inches |
Dimension Details |
Overall. |
Search Terms |
Carriages Hotels Lithographs Redwood City |
Subjects |
Lithographs Lithography Hotels Redwood City Boardwalks Carriages & coaches |
People |
Crowley, John |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Robert & Joan Desky |