Laguna Hills
Artist
Darwin Duncan
(1905 - 2002)
Date1948
MediumOil on Masonite
Dimensions16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of The Hilbert Collection
Object number2023.099
DescriptionFor many years Laguna Beach has been considered an artist colony where a number of celebrated California Landscape Painters have resided. The beaches and surrounding coastal mountain range provided some wonderful scenery that often has become the subject matter for paintings by the Laguna artists. Edgar Payne is one of the most famous of the pioneer Laguna Beach artists. He was also a friend of Darwin Duncan. Although Payne did not give art lessons, he did allow Duncan to take painting excursions with him to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and on occasion to Laguna Beach. Payne would then critique what Duncan produced, thus giving him instruction and encouragement.
According to Duncan one of the exceptional painting locations Payne showed him was near where Laguna Canyon Road met El Toro Road in the San Joaquin Hills. That particular location inspired this painting by Darwin Duncan titled Laguna Hills. It was painted in the Springtime when the hills were covered with luscious green grass and the sky was bright and blue. To some extent Payne’s influence can be seen in the way Duncan painted this work.
In 1980 when it appeared the Laguna Canyon would be developed by housing and commercial buildings, Save Laguna Canyon movements began to form through an organization named The Laguna Canyon Project. Their efforts, along with funding from the cities of Laguna and Irvine and private donations succeeded in saving the large portions of the open land in the Laguna Canyon that is now known as the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.
Gordon McClelland, Curator
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