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About Gardner Symons
Born George Gardner Simon, the artist changed his name to Symons in fear of anti-Semitic prejudice. The first forty years of his life have been only vaguely constructed. Even his year of birth ranges from 1861 to 1866; the earliest date concurs with the death certificate, which Burke (1980, p. 406) believes she had found. The claim that Symons studied at the *Art Institute of Chicago cannot be confirmed, however, since that institution’s school shows no records for him. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Symons reportedly studied in London, Paris, and Munich. Weimer (1940, p. 516) gave ca. 1887 as Symons’ year of study in Munich. Symons returned to America temporarily in 1896 to accompany *William Wendt to California. The two artists had met in Chicago, according to Hughes (1986, p. 453), who adds that Symons built a studio south of Laguna Beach in that year, which he would utilize from time to time. A conflicting report is given by Will South (in Gerdts and South, 1998, p. 120) who says that Symons established the studio six years previously. In addition, the Laguna Beach Museum of Art (1979, p. 180) mentions a studio at Montecito, much further north. Still another source (Mary A. Lublin, in A. Gerdts, 1990, p. 116) states that the Laguna Beach studio was not acquired until 1906.
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Paintings by Gardner Symons
| Winter Landscape |
| oil on canvas:12 x 16 1/4 inches |
| signed: lower left |
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Click Picture to Enlarge |
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