Raymond Dabb Yelland (1848-1900) was born in England and moved to America as an infant. His talent for art as a student at the National Academy of Design in New York led to a job as an instructor. In 1873, he moved to California, becoming an art teacher, first at Mills College, then at the California School of Design. As an exhibiting artist, Yelland excelled with paintings in the American “luminist” mode, portraying quiet stretches of water and sky bathed in the delicate light of early evening. Yelland’s works are the best West Coast examples of this style developed in the East by Kensett, Gifford, Bricher and Silva. Meticulous realism is created through tiny brushstrokes that obliterate any sense of an artist’s hand at work.
