Early Tonalist Landscape -- California Coastal Live Oaks William Schneider 1915 Beautiful early 20th Century tonalist landscape of California by New York artist William G. Schneider (American, 1863-1912), circa 1911. Mostly known for his portraiture, this is a rare landscape completed during his trip with his artist brother to California in 1911. This small-scale pastoral scene of a quiet meadow surrounded by Coastal Live Oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and greenery fades into the distance in the soft lighting of dusk. Signed "W.G. Schneider" lower right. Frame size: 20" H x 24" W Canvas size: 12" H x 16.25" W William G. Schneider was a noted artist born in Madison, Wisconsin and active as an artist in New York. Schneider was a member of many artists’ clubs and was known primarily for his watercolors amongst New York and Newport’s fashionable set. He was the brother of artist Arthur Schneider, who at one time was court painter to the sultan of Morocco. In 1911, the Schneider brothers traveled to San Francisco along with noted artists Edward Penfield and William J. Beauley to “make sketches of the local color of the state, old Spanish adobes, mission archways, the life of the monasteries of Southern California, and the faded interiors of the old adobes.” Tonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Between 1880 and 1915, dark, neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue, often dominated compositions by artists associated with the style. During the late 1890s, American art critics began to use the term "tonal" to describe these works, as well as the lesser-known synonyms Quietism and Intimism. Two of the leading associated painters were George Inness and James McNeill Whistler. His career as an artist was cut short at the age of 49. William G. Schneider died by suicide in a Washington D.C. hotel room on November 5, 1912.