Robert Clunie 1895 - 1984

Palisade Big Pine 1951 (SOLD)

Hurricane, Utah

Robert Clunie was born in 1895 in Renfrewshire, Scotland. As a child, his talents emerged, painting the outdoors of Scotland, and at the age of 13 and was accepted to the Royal Scottish Academy. But an adventuring side of young Clunie had to be satisfied, and he turned down the opportunity to travel with his family to America, settling first in Saginaw, Michigan.

In January of 1918, at the adventuresome age of 23, Robert and his older brother William first came to Pasadena, California to escape the cold dark Michigan winters. On their return train ride home through Donner Pass, they first saw the Sierra Nevada. Both were so impressed, and they returned to Califoria by car before the year was done, and stayed.

Robert first worked in the movies, painting scenery for MGM's film, "The Red Lantern." He then worked for the paint department of the American Beet Sugar Company in Oxnard. It was here he met Mertyle Ireland at a Friday night dance, his future wife. The couple bought a home in Santa Paula, California. Close to home, he painted ranch scenes and the rolling terrain of the Ojai Valley, Santa Paula, and Ventura.

But in 1928, he made his first trip to the Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierra near the town of Lone Pine. Over the next thirty years, Clunie painted the scenery of the region, often selling the paintings right off his easel, while taking orders for more. He would be visted by other artists who frequented the region, such as Edgar Payne, but Edgar preferred the comforts of Upper Glacier Lodge while Clunie was happy with camping outdoors.

In 1945, Clunie purchased some land in the twon of Bishop on the north fork of Bishop Creek. By 1948, the Clunie clan had moved into a new residence and studio where he painted until his death in 1984.

Source: Askart