SAN JACINTO PEAK BY ALFRED. R. MITCHELL

ALFRED R. MITCHELL (1888-1972) 

San Jacinto Peak (3, 302m - 10,834 ft)

United States of America (California) 

In Road to Borrego - San Jacinto mountains in summer, oil on canvas,  Private collection  

The mountain 

The San Jacinto  Peak (3, 302m - 10,834 ft) is the highest poeak of the San Jacinto Mountains (Avii Hanupach in Mojave), a mountain range, in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles southern California in the United States.   The range extends for approximately 30 mi (50 km) from the San Bernardino Mountains southeast to the Santa Rosa Mountains. The San Jacinto Mountains are the northernmost of the Peninsular Ranges, which run 1,500 km (930 mi) from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. 

The Coachella Valley stretches along the eastern side of the range, including the cities of Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. San Gorgonio Pass separates the range from Mount San Gorgonio to the north. The western slope holds the community of Idyllwild. The range is the eastern boundary of the San Jacinto Valley, location of Hemet; it also marks the eastern edge of the fast-growing Inland Empire region and Greater Los Angeles as a whole. Much of the range is embraced by the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument created in 2000. 

Mount San Jacinto State Park is located along the flank of San Jacinto Peak. Part of the eastern flank of the range is located within the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. In 1990 the California Legislature created the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy to protect the mountains surrounding the valley.

The San Jacinto Mountains, like the neighboring San Bernardino Mountains, are a humid island above the surrounding desert and semi-desert.  The range can be thought of as a sky island, as it contains numerous species of flora and fauna that cannot tolerate the triple-digit-Fahrenheit heat of the surrounding valleys. Vegetation found on the mountain flanks is strongly influenced by elevation and climate.  At higher elevations, forests include Ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Lodgepole pine, Incense cedar, White fir, Red fir, and deciduous oak. There is also a grove of over 150 Giant Sequoia Trees on the northeast facing slope. The sequoias (native to the Sierra Nevada Mountains) were planted by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1970s, and are now apparently healthy and producing seedlings. As in many other western U.S areas, bark beetle infestations have caused loss of some of the forest trees in recent years, especially during droughts. 

The indigenous Cahuilla live in the deserts around the San Jacinto Mountains and used the range for hunting, foraging, and to escape the summer heat.

Hollywood film directors have used the mountains to shoot film scenes. In Frank Capra's 1937 film, Lost Horizon, the falls in Tahquitz Canyon was used as a scene.

Today, the range is a destination for outdoor recreation. The Pacific Crest Trail runs along the spine of the range. 

The  artist

Alfred R. Mitchell  was an American landscape painter. Educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he was the president of the San Diego Art Guild and the La Jolla Art Association. He became known as the "Dean of San Diego County artists".

Alfred R. Mitchell was born  in York, Pennsylvania and moved to San Diego, California in 1908. He and studied with Maurice Braun in 1915. Mitchell won a silver medal at the 1915 Panama–California Exposition.  He served in the United States Army during World War I.  He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1916, and won the Cresson Traveling Scholarship and the Edward Bok Philadelphia Prize to visit museums in Europe in 1920; he graduated from the academy in 1921. Mitchell was the President of the San Diego Art Guild and the co-founder of the San Diego Museum of Art.  He was a co-founder of the Fine Arts Society of San Diego in 1925.  He was also the founding secretary of the Associated Artists of San Diego in 1929; it later changed its name to Contemporary Artists of San Diego. Mitchell was also the founder of the Chula Vista Art Guild in Chula Vista, California in 1945. He was the co-founder and president of the La Jolla Art Association in La Jolla, California from 1951 to 1961. He exhibited his artwork at the San Diego Fine Arts Gallery from 1920 to 1927, and the La Jolla Library from 1923 to 1966.

SAN JACINTO PEAK PAINTED BY JOHN FROST

JOHN FROST (1890-1937)

 San Jacinto Peak  (3,302 m - 10,834 ft) 

 United States of America (California) 

1. In  Mount San Jacinto, Whitewater Wash, 1926, oil on canvas

2. In Mount San Jacinto, 1928, oil on canvas

The mountain

San Jacinto Peak  (3,302 m - 10,834 ft) often designated Mount San Jacinto, is the highest peak of the San Jacinto Mountains, and of Riverside County, California. It lies within Mount San Jacinto State Park. To the Cahuilla Indians, the peak was known as I a kitch (or Aya Kaich), meaning "smooth cliffs." It was the home of Dakush, the meteor and legendary founder of the Cahuilla. Naturalist John Muir wrote of San Jacinto Peak, "The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!".  From the peak, San Gorgonio Mountain can be seen across the San Gorgonio Pass. Also easily visible below is the Coachella Valley and the Salton Sea. In addition, much of the Inland Empire, including Ontario to the west, can be viewed on a clear day.

San Jacinto Peak is one of the most topographically prominent peaks in the United States. It is ranked sixth among peaks in the 48 contiguous states. Mount San Jacinto is one of the "Four Saints", a name occasionally used to describe the high points of the four mountains over 10,000 feet named for Catholic saints in Southern California: San Jacinto Peak, Mount San Gorgonio (high point of the San Bernardino Mountains), San Bernardino Peak, and Mount San Antonio (high point of the San Gabriel Mountains).

Known for its spectacular north escarpment, the peak rises 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above San Gorgonio Pass. It plays host to the famous Cactus to Clouds Trail.
The first successful ascent of the difficult northeast escarpment was made in 1931 by Floyd Vernoy and Stewart White of Riverside.
Source: 
-Mount San Jacinto State Park  website

The painter

John (Jack) Frost was an American artist who holds a high place in the California school of Impressionism. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 14, 1890 and his initial art training came from his famous father, Arthur B. Frost who was known as an illustrator.  Later John Frost traveled to France to study at the Academie Julian under Richard Miller and Jean-Paul Laurens. 

For reasons of health, Frost decided to relocate to Pasadena, California in 1918. In California, he became a highly respected artist, his paintings show the influence of his training in French Impressionism. Inspired by his new surroundings, Frost glorified the California landscape with atmospheric and impressionistic renderings of the Sierra Nevada mountains, sunsets, meadows, the small town of Lone Pine, California, shacks in Palm Springs, the arid California desert with pink verbena flowers and the coastal sand dunes near Carmel.

Frost exhibited and sold his paintings at the Stendhal Gallery that was located at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. He was a member of the California Art Club, Painters and Sculptors of Los Angeles and the Pasadena Society of Fine Arts. He was awarded the Gold Medal at the Painters and Sculptors in 1924. 

His works can be found in the Gardena High School collection, the Irvine Museum collection, Irvine, California and important private collections. John Frost died at the young age of forty-seven in Pasadena.