Our cover this month, Spanish Fisherman by Arthur Grover Rider, sold for $43,825 at Bonhams California and Western Paintings and Sculpture auction on Aug. 6, 2019 in Los Angeles. Born in Chicago, Rider attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and painted for the Chicago Lyric Opera. He then took his studies and work overseas, where he went on to live in Paris and London and often summered in Valencia, Spain.
It was in Valencia that Rider befriended the artist Joaquin Sorolla, who would shape and influence his future works. The seascapes, fishing boats and landscapes of Valencia were featured prominently in Rider’s paintings. The painting that graces our cover depicts one of the scenes from that time period in his career. Although Rider eventually returned to Chicago, it seems his fondness of warm Spanish summers stuck, and he ended up permanently settling in California after a visit there. He would seek out locales to paint, throughout the state and in nearby Mexico, which reminded him of the brilliant colors and light he’d experienced in Spain. Rider also notably worked for Hollywood powerhouses Twentieth Century Fox and MGM Studios, not retiring until the age of 84. Perhaps he didn’t need much retirement planning.