11.625 in HIGH x 16.375 in WIDE (29.53 cm HIGH x 41.59 cm WIDE)
Gift of Karl Kasten
2010.32.1
frame, mat, glass
signed in graphite, BR: "Ryder"
Pink paper label with handwritten script adhered to backing board, TR: "I bequeath this watercolor / painting "Saddlebag Lake" by / Worth Ryder to the Berkeley / UC Art Museum done in 1927 / 10/11/06 KAKasten"Handwritten in ballpoint pen on backing board, TL: "'High Sierra Lake' <--Ryder's title / 'Saddlebag Lake' / 'Saddlebag Lake' / Mt. Conass at Tioga Pass / in Sierra Nevadas / 1927 by Worth Ryder / while on camping trip / with Chiura Obata / KA Kasten / 10/93"Photocopied image of a landscape painting with the caption "Saddle-bag Lake, Tioga Pass by Virginia Gould 1949" adhered to backing board, BL.Photocopied front page of an exhibition brochure for "The Berkeley Art Scene: Years of Change, 1930s and 1940s" at the Berkeley Art Center, Oct. 21 - Nov. 27, 1993 featuring "Saddlebag Lake" by Worth Ryder.Envelope adhered to the backing board at BR containing a hand-colored postcard, a photocopied section of a 2004 article from the UC Chronicle on Chiura Obata, and a photocopied page with typed commentary from K. Kasten with images from the book "Obata's Yosemite."
Berkeley Art Center, "The Berkeley Art Scene: Years of Change, 1930s and 1940s," Oct. 21 - Nov. 27, 1993.
This is a watercolor and crayon painting on paper that depicts a mountain landscape. The landscape is painted with loose gestural strokes in bright colors. Mountain peaks painted in red and purple tones set against a blue sky fill the top half of the composition. The lower part of the image is painted in tones of blue, green, yellow, red, and purple, and shows a river flowing horizontally from left to right through rocky ground with clusters of trees and vegetation.
Excerpt from letter by Karl Kasten (see object file):"April 29, 2010 / Philip Linares, Chief Curator of Art / Oakland Museum of California / Subject: Donation of "Saddlebag Lake" by Worth Ryder and "Worth Ryder Painting Saddlebag Lake" by Chiura Obata. / Both works were done in 1927 when the two men were camping at Tioga Pass in the Sierras. The Ryder painting is important as an early example of abstract expressionism. Ryder had recently completed studies with Hans Hoffman in Germany and this influenced his interpretation of the lake scene. The Obata painting is notable as it records his first visit to the high Sierras, an area which remained important to him throughout his life..."
