HENRY JOSEPH BREUER (1860-1932)
Bishop peak (471m - 1,546ft)
United States of America (California)
oil on canvas, 1920
The mountain
Bishop Peak (471m- 1,546ft) is a volcanic plug in San Luis Obispo, California. It is the tallest of the Morros or "Nine Sisters", a chain of similar peaks stretching to Morro Bay. It's mistakenly said to take its name from its resemblance to a bishop's miter, however, it is actually named in homage to the town's name (San Luis Obispo). "Obispo" is the Spanish word for Bishop, and It is frequently referred to by locals as "Bishop's Peak".Like the other Morros, Bishop Peak is primarily composed of dacite. About 20 to 25 million years ago, magma welled up underneath a layer of softer rock and solidified. The softer overlying rock has since eroded away, leaving a distinct rugged shape.
In the past some quarrying has taken place, primarily to provide stone for the nearby city of San Luis Obispo. Currently Bishop Peak Natural Reserve includes 350 acres (1.4 km2) of land purchased or donated since 1977.
There are several trails in the Open Space with trailheads on Patricia Drive and at the end of Highland Drive. The Felsman Loop Trail covers the northeast base and connects with Bishop Peak Trail, which climbs the South slope to the summit. There is a third possible trailhead on Foothill Blvd. accessing a steep fall line trail on private property which intersects the Bishop Peak Trail partway up. Residents surrounding Bishop Peak prefer for hikers to use the Patricia Drive Trailhead, which offers a 4.2 miles (6.8 km) round trip hike to the summit, ascending 1,175 feet (360 m).
There are many access trails that rock climbers use regularly on Bishop Peak to access different climbing walls. One of these trails, the 'Oh Man' trail starts just to the left of the cracked wall, which is off of the Highland or Patricia Drive trailheads, and it can be taken as an alternate route to the summit. It was named the 'Oh Man' trail due to the fact that it is a short, sprinty trail and it must be taken at a steady tempo in order to maintain safety.
The painter
Not to be confused with the austrian physician, Joseph Breuer, Henry Joseph Breuer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 is a american painter who earned a reputation as a well-known "painter of poetic landscapes." He studied art during the 1870s in Buffalo, New York, and then worked as a designer-decorator for the Rockwood Pottery Company in Cincinnati where he also attended the Art Academy. He worked for five years as a lithographer in New York City.
In 1888, he settled in San Francisco where he became art editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and Californian magazine. Then he went to France for art study and was influenced by the Barbizon School of impressionist painters of rural landscapes.
Living out of a horse-drawn wagon, he traveled extensively along the western coast of California and Oregon, painting and earning a national reputation for his landscapes. He also painted in Arizona including Canyon de Chelly in Navajo country and did commissioned views of the San Gabriel Valley for the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.
In 1903 he spent two weeks in Mount Shasta which had a great impact on him. In the Cincinatti Time Stars he wrote:
" I board a train to some station somewhere near Mount Shasta,and this into the woods. I man a one- man camp every night for two weeks. It was cold and sometimes miserable in the thick, wet, cold mist of the mountain side, but the days were grand before that high, white altar, Shasta! I shall feel for all my life that I was a true pilgrim, and for the sake of days like that, I am happy to be what I am, a landscape painter..."
