2007.89.10

Painting outdoors in the Sierra Nevada foothills, Harry Fonseca devoted much of his work during the summer in the late 80s and 90s to the California Gold Rush. The result was "The Discovery of Gold in California," a series of nearly 300 abstract landscapes, predominantly on paper, with some on unstretched canvas. Fonseca had an intimate, almost unique relationship with the landscape depicted in this series, as his Maidu ancestors were indigenous to the region where gold was discovered in 1848. On another family branch, he is descended from Native Hawaiians who were brought to work the gold stake of John Sutter. His paintings illustrate the natural world of the gold territories. This painting is of a cross covered with red and gold. PCK