CHAPMAN, Otis F.

Mt. Rainier [Primitive Antique Painting]

Otis Chapman, ca. 1920. Otis Chapman. Framed Oil Painting. Antique framed oil painting. Oak frame measures 14 1/4 x 12 1/8 inches. Exposed painting measures 9 3.4 x 7 1/2 inches. Signed at lower right: "O. F. Chapman." Slight chip the size of a chickpea just to the left of center, at roughly 3,500 feet. The verso with indication in pen that the painting had been a gift. While the painting remains well framed, with a fine patina on the oak, slight gaps can be seen at the joints. Painting and Frame Very Good. Item #6669

The ownership names on the back suggest the painting was given to Carl and Jean Foster by a family named Stevens in 1962. In addition, a tag attached to the hanging wire indicates the painting was executed by Otis F. Chapman; that it was subsequently owned by Seattle bookseller and bibliographer Robert Mattila, and that he loaned the painting to an exhibition.

A fine representation of vernacular painting inspired by the grandeur of the American West. We suggest the painting was created in the early 1920s at the latest; at the earliest, 1890. The vantage from which the mountain is presented is either from Tacoma or perhaps the Nisqually Plain, with a rudely rendered railroad in the foreground. Indeed, Mt. Rainier may well have been captured by Chapman at the time a concerted effort was put forth to change the name from its namesake, Admiral Peter Rainier, a man who never laid eyes on the mountain, to its traditional name, Tacoma, or a variant spelling of that name. The effort failed, but the awkward situation is an injustice to the Native Americans who for untold centuries viewed the mountain as anthropomorphic, if not a god.

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Price: $275.00