Browse > Jules Tavernier

Jules Tavernier

Paintings in Inventory

Click on an image for a larger view. 

Artist's Biography

Jules Tavernier began his career in Paris, as a student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and as an exhibitor at the Salon.  He emigrated to America after the Franco-Prussian War and was dispatched to San Francisco in 1874 to do illustrations for articles in Harper’s Weekly.  Tavernier found the culture and environment so stimulating that he made San Francisco his permanent home.  A true bon vivant, he was particularly attracted to the activities of the newly-founded Bohemian Club.  As a friend remembered after the turn of the century, "He was a prince of Bohemians, a Bohemian to the Queen’s taste..."  Tavernier was a versatile painter, feeling equally at home doing landscapes, portraits and genre paintings.  On September 3, 1881, the San Francisco Post published a letter from a correspondent in Yosemite noting the presence of Tavernier and two other San Francisco painters.  "They have been here about six weeks," the correspondent reported, "and say it is more beautiful to them each day."  On September 17, the Post art critic announced that "[Tavernier] has recently returned from Yosemite Valley and has brought with him studies that should be of great value… He is a close observer and student of nature and at the same time an artistic poet.  He catches the spirit and impression as well as the bare portrait of the scenery."  Our painting is one of Tavernier’s outdoor studies painted on a portable medium (canvas laid down on cardboard), with a nail hole at the bottom where it was tacked to a sketching board.  The painting is signed and dated 1882, the year it was sold.  It captures the charm of a late summer afternoon in Yosemite with foliage of black oaks and evergreens, creating beautiful wild harmonies in various shades of green.  It is a rare and wonderful view from the early days of Yosemite by one of California’s most colorful painters.