Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865-1940)
Every region in America seems to cherish a favorite artist who over an extended period of time was able to capture the spirit of the people and the country they painted. For many in Alaska, that artist is Sydney Laurence.
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1865, Laurence studied at the Art Students League and by the late 1880′s he exhibited at local galleries. Following studies in England, he eventually moved to Alaska in 1904. Why he came to the wild north country is unknown; however, following a brief stint working as a prospector, Laurence turned his full attention back to his easel. According to Len Braarud, noted Laurence authority, “… the image of Mt. McKinley from the hills above the rapids of the Tokositna River became his trademark.”
In his book, Sydney Laurence, Painter of the North, Kesler E. Woodward wrote, “… it was left to Sydney Laurence to define visually the notion of a land so big that it dwarfs human activity and accomplishment. He produced that image not by eliminating human traces, but by juxtaposing them with the landscape in such a way that the hegemony of the land was made clear. The predominance of the land over man had been lost in the American west by Laurence’s time, and in Alaska it was already under siege. But by giving us that powerful image of humans in an earlier, more subordinate relationship to the mountains, the sea, the cold, and the northern lights, he has allowed a few more generations to feel the magic of the frontier.” Laurence died in 1940.
Biographical note courtesy of the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction.