AFA 20th Anniversary

2020 Antiques & Fine Art 129 Fig. 9: Granville Redmond (1871–1935), Field of Poppies, n.d. Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Ray Redfern Collection. sometimes even Pointillist—in technique and hue (Fig. 9). Chaplin himself wrote about Redmond and his art: “Sometimes I think that the silence in which he lives has developed in him some sense, some great capacity for happiness in which we others are lacking. He paints solitude as no one else can convey it, and yet, by some strange paradox, his solitude is never loneliness. It’s some sort of communion with Nature, I suppose” (Fig. 10). 9 Redmond ultimately had roles in seven Chaplin films: A Dog’s Life (1918), Sunnyside (1919), A Day’s Pleasure (1919), The Kid (1921), The Idle Class (1921), A Woman of Paris (1923), and City Lights (1931). He also worked for other studios. Though the money he earned from acting certainly helped his family, the connections he made in Hollywood did even more for his bottom line by fostering sales of paintings to those in the industry. Redmond typically offered Chaplin first right of refusal, which, over the span of twenty years, enabled the actor to assemble an important collection of Redmond’s work. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford acquired paintings for Pickfair, the couple’s grand Beverly Hills home. Fairbanks also cast Redmond in multiple small parts in his 1921 film The Three Musketeers . Redmond made another important connection to actor- comedian Raymond Griffith and accepted a role in the 1925 comedy A Regular Fellow (a.k.a. He’s a Prince! ), in which Griffith starred. Griffith purchased multiple examples of Redmond’s work, including California Poppy Field (Fig. 11), which he later donated to the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. In 1926, Redmond appeared with Griffith again in the murder mystery You’ d be Surprised , a satire on jurisprudence. Redmond and the principal character, played by Griffith, signed and used the manual alphabet in their conversations, their spelling “delightfully clear” to deaf viewers (Fig. 12). 10 On average, Redmond spent less than two days a week acting and thus had plenty of time to sketch and paint. He often did so in Laguna Beach, one of his favorite places to work (Fig. 13). He also had a deep fondness for Santa Catalina Island. He loved the island’s paintable canyons, mountains, coves, and peacock-blue