Island Inn Artist Monhegan

Richmond Irwin Kelsey, a painter, muralist, illustrator and printmaker, was born in San Diego, California. He studied at the Otis Art Institute, Santa Barbara School of the Arts, Los Angeles Art Center School and under Frank Morley Fletcher. He began painting and exhibiting watercolors and oils, while studying at the LA Art Center School. He taught art at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts in the 1930s. Kelsey was an Art Director at the Walt Disney Studios from 1938–50. In addition to his animation work for Disney, Kelsey produced illustrations for a series of Golden Books. He also wrote and illustrated a popular children's book, “Good Enough Gismo.” He was also known for a series of woodblock prints produced early in his career a la Frank Fletcher. Kelsey was a member of the California Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society, San Diego Artist's Guild, Santa Barbara Art League and the California Printmakers Society. He exhibited his works at the California State Fair, the San Diego Exposition in 1935, the San Diego Fine Art Society (now the San Museum of Art) and the Smithsonian Institute. Richmond Kelsey died in Oxnard, California, on his birthday, May 3, 1987.

It could be argued that cave walls were the canvases for the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict and elevate natural scenery through art, but there is a richer history to consider.

The Netherlands was home to landscapes as a major theme in painting as early as the 1500s, and ink-on-silk paintings in China featured mountains and large bodies of water as far back as the third century. Greeks created vast wall paintings that depicted landscapes and grandiose garden scenes, while in the late 15th century and early 16th century, landscapes were increasingly the subject of watercolor works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo.

The popularity of religious paintings eventually declined altogether, and by the early 19th century, painters of classical landscapes took to painting out-of-doors (plein-air painting). Paintings of natural scenery were increasingly realistic but romanticized too. Into the 20th century, landscapes remained a major theme for many artists, and while the term “landscape painting” may call to mind images of lush, grassy fields and open seascapes, the genre is characterized by more variety, colors and diverse styles than you may think. Painters working in the photorealist style of landscape painting, for example, seek to create works so lifelike that you may confuse their paint for camera pixels. But if you’re shopping for art to outfit an important room, the work needs to be something with a bit of gravitas (and the right frame is important, too).

Adding a landscape painting to your home can introduce peace and serenity within the confines of your own space. (Some may think of it as an aspirational window of sorts rather than a canvas.) Abstract landscape paintings by the likes of Korean painter Seungyoon Choi or Georgia-based artist Katherine Sandoz, on the other hand, bring pops of color and movement into a room. These landscapes refuse to serve as a background. Elsewhere, Adam Straus’s technology-inspired paintings highlight how our extreme involvement with our devices has removed us from the glory of the world around us. Influenced by modern life and steeped in social commentary, Straus’s landscape paintings make us see our surroundings anew.

Whether you’re seeking works by the world’s most notable names or those authored by underground legends, find a vast collection of landscape paintings on 1stDibs.