Francis Augustus Todhunter (American, 1884-1963 )
This oil on canvas of the Sausalito Boatyard measures 24" x 30" or in the original wood frame dimensions of 34" x 40.5" signed lower right,
 
Biography:
     In the mid-1920's, American art experienced a series of dramatic transformations that would reach all the way to California. Gone were the classic compositions of the plein-air painters giving way to a new generation of artists with a style of painting characterized by a move away from the traditional, toward more progressive approaches to painting. European inspired Modernism, first shown in New York in 1913 at the momentous International Exhibition of Modern Art, better known as the Armory Show, found ready converts among this new generation of artists.
      When compared to the plein-air style, the work of Modernist artists tends to favor overall flatter surface designs instead of portraying realistic three-dimensional effects of natural depth. The forms they create usually follow rhythmic lines that echo or complement each other. Moreover, they tend to intensify colors in larger, simpler brushstrokes and simplify forms such as houses, hills, and trees by using stylized sets of patterns. Among the artists that well represented this change to modernism was Francis Augustus Todhunter.  
      Francis Todhunter was born in San Francisco, CA. He began his career in art as an illustrator. Later he worked in New York as a commercial artist until 1912, when he returned to San Francisco to become the art director for H.K. McCann Company. Todhunter's work includes etchings, lithographs and landscape oils of the Marin County and San Francisco Bay area where this “Sausalito Harbor” painting was done. This painting is a typical scene from the Regionalist period. His forms are rendered in simplified blocks giving a flatter appearance.