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Detail
Signature
Samuel Hyde Harris (1889-1977)
“Desert Lands”
Date unknown (circa 1950)
Oil on canvas
22” H x 28” W (image size)
29” H x 36” W (frame size)
Signed lower left: Sam Hyde Harris
Estimated value: $2,500 - $3,500
Additional Information
Samuel Hyde Harris (1889-1977) is one of many historic California artists tied to Santa Paula through the long-running Santa Paula Art Show established in 1937. Harris was awarded the best-in-show purchase prize for his oil painting entitled “Late Afternoon” in the 1954 show (pictured below). That painting is now preserved in the City of Santa Paula’s permanent art collection, but this year’s auction is your chance to take home Harris’ equally stunning “Desert Lands.”
“Late Afternoon” by Samuel Hyde Harris, 1954, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches, Collection of The City of Santa Paula.
Artist Biography
Samuel Hyde Harris was born in Middlesex, England in 1889, and was already a successful commercial artist by the age of 14. After moving to California with his family, Harris got a job as a painter of signs, billboards, and hand-lettered show cards in 1906. He developed a reputation for doing excellent commercial work and opened his own commercial art studio in 1914. His commercial art business received a boost in 1920 when he was hired by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company to work on their poster advertising. Harris was later hired to do artwork for Southern Pacific Railways as well.
Harris began studying painting with Hanson Puthuff in 1906. As early as 1920, he was exhibiting with the California Art Club. He continued exhibiting his paintings for the next fifty-plus years, including with Painters and Sculptors of Southern California, the Pacific Advertising Club Association, the San Gabriel Artists Guild, the Laguna Beach Art Association, and many other venues. He won countless awards in hundreds of exhibitions throughout Southern and Northern California. He also taught art classes at the Chouinard School of Art and for many clubs and groups.
Harris' papers from 1928–1980 are held in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art, and his work is included in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Auction Information
The 13th Annual Fine Art Auction Fundraiser
Saturday, August 19, 2023
The silent auction starts at 3:00 PM.
The live auction starts at 4:00 PM.
Auction admission: $15.00 SPAM members, $20.00 Non-members
All proceeds benefit the Santa Paula Art Museum, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization #2478728.
All major credit cards, check, and cash are accepted.
Sales tax will be applied to all hammer prices. There is no buyer’s premium.