Paintings in Inventory (Click on an image for a larger view)
Frederick Schafer (1838-1927) moved to California from his native Germany in 1876 and established himself in the colony of San Francisco painters. During the 1880s and ‘90s, he was a regular exhibitor in San Francisco Art Association and Mechanics’ Institute exhibitions. Like many other San Francisco painters of this period, Schafer was influenced by the broad, summarizing compositions of the Barbizon painters as well as the subdued and unified tonality of many Barbizon works. A majority of his paintings depict majestic mountain panoramas. Our work is quite different, being a mood piece that shows a woman, probably Schafer’s wife Sophia, walking by the Alameda Marshes near their home on Alameda, where they lived from 1883 to 1904. Schafer was an active participant in the art life of Alameda, painting six huge murals for the Masonic Lode there in 1896.
