Signed and dated 'A. A. Hills-1918' bottom right; also titled, signed, and inscribed 'Permanent Studio address Laguna Beach/Orange Co. Calif.' [underlined], oil on board
20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61cm)

Provenance

William A. Karges Fine Art, Carmel, California.
Acquired directly from the above.
The Estate of Mary L. Means, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Note

Following her studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Cooper Union Art School, Hills toured Europe for a period of four years, painting in the Netherlands and England and undertaking additional training at Paris’ Académie Julian. She settled in Los Angeles upon her return in 1912, taking up permanent residence in Laguna Beach the following year. Her arrival coincided with an abrupt shift in both style and subject matter. She abandoned a moodier, Barbizon-inspired palette in favor of the brighter, celebratory tones characteristic of Impressionism in Southern California. At the same time, she turned her attention to the region's landscapes and coastlines–from Laguna north to Carmel-by-the-Sea–and to Mission San Juan Capistrano, the "jewel" of the state's colonial-era missions.

San Juan would emerge as a popular destination for California’s plein air painters of the late-19^th and early-20^th century. One of several versions that Hills executed, the present painting captures the mission at its most handsome. From beneath its whitewashed arcade, viewers gaze past potted flowers and languid bougainvillea to the structure's curvilinear, cross-topped Mission Revival gable. Beyond, Orange County's gently rolling hills dissolve in an atmospheric haze.

Hills' interpretation of Mission San Juan, awash in raking, late-afternoon sun, complements the work of fellow California Impressionists Joseph Kleitsch, Alson Skinner Clark, Arthur Hill Gilbert, and Philadelphian, Colin Campbell Cooper, all of whom took up the subject in earnest in the 1920s. Like Hills, these artists harbored a reverence for the state's rich history, diverse culture and, especially, its picture-worthy views. Their images, rendered with lively strokes and an optimistic palette, pay tribute to the region–often, and to great effect, through a filter of crystalline Southern California light.