Sold at Auction: Sydney M. Laurence

Sydney Laurence, born in New York in 1865, gained fame for his paintings of Alaska, his adoptive home in later years. In his youth, Laurence attended the Peekskill Military Academy, but showed a proclivity for painting. In 1887, the National Academy in New York began exhibiting art by Sydney Laurence. However, he left his home in 1889, traveling extensively for 15 years.

Sydney Laurence's art draws inspiration from French Impressionism and tonalism, an American art movement characterized by the use of a single, dominant color and glazed finishes. In 1903, Laurence moved to Alaska, working as a prospector and painter. Indeed, the subject of Sydney Laurence's paintings became almost exclusively Mount McKinley and the Alaskan frontier. Native Alaskans and tourists alike enthusiastically bought prints for sale by Sydney Laurence, who remains a popular and respected figure. Art and nature enthusiasts can find collectible landscape paintings for sale at Invaluable.