"Make Every Line Count" - Pedro de Lemos

A(nother) student of Arthur Wesley Dow's at Pratt Institute in New York, Pedro de Lemos (1882-1945) is known as an artist of the west coast, particularly the Monterey Peninsula, on view in these woodblock prints, made the 1920s.
What gives the cypress trees of Monterey their sublime aspect is the way that they make visible the sculpting power of the wind that bends the trees and erodes the soil, making them cling to the cliff sides. There is drama in these images and a sense of impermanence in this large, rocky landscape, suggested by the artist's rather romantic titles.

Pedro de Lemos was instrumental in organizing the graphic arts at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. He taught design and architecture at Stanford University and was the first director of the Carmel Art Association in 1927. He also founded the Allied Artists Guild in Menlo Park. The stucco home he designed for himself at Palo Alto, Hacienda de Lemos, has been lovingly restored to his original intentions.

Images:

1. Old Pines At Monterey, c. 1915, American Federation of the Arts, NYC.

2. Harp Of The Winds, c. 1925, Annex Gallery, Santa Rosa, CA.

3. Top Of The Hill, no date, American Federation of the Arts, NYC.

4. Seaside Sentinels, c. 1925, Catherine Burns Fine Art, Oakland, CA.

5. The Cliff Dweller, c.1920, Stephen Gray Collection, London.