Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame
Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame
Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame
Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame
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Original 1930s-40s California Landscape Painting by Lawrence A. Brunner in Gilded Wood Frame

$2,500.00
$2,500.00
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A quiet view of early California by Los Angeles painter Lawrence A. Brunner. Painted during the 1930s–40s, this signed original oil captures the inland West in muted ochres, dusty greens and blue-gray mountains — beautifully preserved in its gilded wood frame.
Description

There is something particularly compelling about California painted before the postwar boom — open land, enormous hills and very little between you and the horizon.

This signed landscape by Lawrence A. Brunner (b.1883) dates to his years in Los Angeles during the 1930s–40s. Brunner studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Cincinnati Art Academy under noted American painter Frank Duveneck, and later exhibited with Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles from 1938–1947.

Loose, confident brushwork gives the mountains weight without overworking them, while the strip of luminous green across the valley floor pulls the eye deep into the landscape. It is an atmospheric piece of pre-war California regional art — understated from across the room and much richer when viewed closely.

The painting is presented in a later gold wood frame, bringing warmth and scale without overpowering the painting. At 24.5 inches wide, it works beautifully on its own or incorporated into a collection of California landscapes, Western art and historic photography.

Condition: Excellent vintage presentation. Painting shows age consistent with the period; frame has light surface wear. Please review detailed photographs.
Artist + Piece

Artist: Lawrence A. Brunner (born 1883)
Title: Untitled California Landscape
Date: c.1930s–1940s
Medium: Oil on board
Signature: Signed “Lawrence Brunner,” lower right
Origin: California, USA
Framed Dimensions: 24.5" W × 20.5" H × 2" D
Frame: Original vintage gold wood frame
Provenance: Private collection
Condition: Excellent vintage presentation. Painting shows age consistent with the period; original frame retains light wear and patina. Please review detailed photographs.

Artist Notes: Brunner was born in Ohio in 1883 and trained at several major Midwestern art schools, including the Cincinnati Art Academy under Frank Duveneck. He was living and working in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s and is documented in Edan Milton Hughes’ Artists in California, 1786–1940. 
Found + Chosen

We have always been drawn to early California landscapes that show a quieter West — before the familiar images and mythology took over.

Brunner’s painting has that quality. The landscape is beautiful, but not romanticized to death: mountains, changing light, open ground and one small structure in an enormous setting. Add the gilded frame and the artist’s Los Angeles history, and it becomes the kind of piece that feels completely at home in the Surfing Cowboys collection.