Antique Old Mid Century Modern Surrealist Disney Landscape Oil Painting, Tolf

This is a seldom seen and well done Antique Old Mid Century Modern Surrealist Disney Landscape Oil Painting on canvas, depicting the surrealistic ruins of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. This work is by the renowned San Fracisco cartoonist, painter, and Disney artist, Albert Tolf 1911 - 1996.

This painting depicts the ruins of this structure with a pink and azure hued sky in the distance, and resembles the paintings of California Surrealist, John Stancin 1916 - 1988. Signed: "Albert Tolf" in the lower left corner.

Additionally, this work is titled and signed on the stretcher bars of the verso: Timeless Incidental - Albert Tolf... Approximately 27 x 45 inches including frame.

Actual artwork is approximately 20 x 38 inches. Good condition for frame, with some light scuffing and edge wear to the frame please see photos. Acquired in Los Angeles County, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks!

Albert Bertil Tolf was born in Illinois on January 17, 1911. He was in Joliet, Ilinois in 1930 and was a pupil at the Art Institute of Chicago. By the 1950s had a studio in San Francisco on Post Street. He specialized in scenes of San Francisco, both realistic and surreal.

Many of his futuristic paintings, such as San Frantasia, were reproduced in posters, and his whimsical cartoons often appeared in local papers. He died in Sonoma, California on December 27, 1996. Albert Tolf died in December 1996; he was a charming, gentle giant-a talented painter who loved the City & cable cars, drawing them often. His cartoon from the old SF News really captured SF's spirit & enduring charm of cable cars. He was a wonderful friend and I miss him.

It is the bridge to enchantment - Sunshine, Sails, Surf, Birds, Kites & Joy. Hillside Gardens forever in bloom. Fishing wharfs, foghorns & Moviemakers. Architectural Daring - high as the hills. The taste of goodness & and touch of whimsy.

It's the past, present and future, flower stands & the bell atop a cablecar. San Frantasia - Timeless wonderland of the West.

Decades ago, these were the words at the bottom of the poster which I saw among the pieces of history at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA, buried in an old freightcar filled with lamps, timetables, and more. The jumbled vision of old and new, whimsy and dreams, caught my eye - never imagining I would one day live here in the less colorful yet still vibrant real city by the bay. Like many curiosities that attract my eye, it faded into my memory, stirred recently by discussion with a friend who asked me to find it online - along with new discoveries. I hope you will let me guide you along the path that helped me find it after all those years. It turns out "San Frantasia" sprang from the vision and imagination of Albert Tolf, whose father Albert Tolf Sr.

Emigrated in 1900 from Sweden, settling eventually in Joliet, IL where Albert Jr. He had formal training at the Chicago Institute and for a while assisted on the now nearly forgotten "Gasoline Alley" newspaper comic.

Following a vacation trip to San Francisco in the late 30's, Albert fell in love with the city, moving here in 1948. He worked on billboards and other commercial projects, including scenic painting for an amusement park under construction in Southern California - a risky venture by another visionary, Walt Disney's Disneyland. Soon, Albert gave up commercial art to build his own gallery featuring his oil paintings, at six SF locations over 20 years, including Post at Sutter near Union Square, the Transamerica tower, and a Holiday Inn lobby on Kearny. One profile described him riding around his gallery on a custom unicycle!

Albert married his wife Naomi in 1967, retiring to Santa Rosa where he passed in 1996. Another explorer provided an online window that opened my eyes to the broader world of Albert Tolf's vision. In 2016, local resident and respected photographer Ron Henggeler was exploring a Berkeley bookstore, and found a worn volume published by Albert called "This was San Francisco". He too was charmed by the illustrations of local lore and events. He scanned and cleaned all of the images, which you can find on his personal website, including thousands of wonderful historical and current images. Eventually I learned, to my surprise, the original poster which I had seen years before was initially available accompanying another smaller 1966 publication - Al Tolf's San Francisco.. " which he described as "a presentation of seven impressions and caricatures" with "one plate reproduced as a lithographic print. Tolf is quoted as saying "San Francisco is like one big Disneyland", and it is clear his imagination was unfettered. Several of those images follow.

Because, as you see below, I engaged in retail therapy and tracked down - separately - both original books and the print for my own. A few even apparently remain on display in some locations scattered around our city, their origins mostly forgotten. Today we are facing upheaval here and in our broader world, our village where creative and personal freedom, fringe culture and groundbreaking thinking have been birthed for over half a century since his publication. Still, even now, in this time of uncertainty, sometimes bleak and seemingly impossible challenges - San Francisco remains and endures and becomes and evolves. Just as, in a shorter time frame than this city, we all must, constantly, and at a seemingly increased pace.

Somehow, this vision I feel in Albert Tolf's art gives me - hope. But the most intriguing article I found was from the San Francisco Rotary in 1967 - the second oldest chapter in the world! They were very kind to share with me that Albert, a devoted member, even designed their "Grindings" newsletter masthead, still in use today - shown here with their permission thank you!

It captures in just a few detailed lines much of our iconic city. The article showed a "work in progress" which hopefully still exists today, for the upcoming anniversary of the Golden Gate bridge. Like his talent, it was large - as was his love for his city - and was created for display in the Rotary offices. But, as change comes to all things, Rotary closed their office in time, and passed it on to another non-profit agency with a long heritage - I hope to discover they still have it on display, and that I can share this history of their treasure for future preservation.

For those who are fortunate to have one of his many whimsical sketches, or full on oil paintings of his beloved city, or railroads, and other places he loved - perhaps our trip through time will help them learn of Albert's amazing life - and to realize they have a small treasure. It's hard to say just why thinking of San Frantasia gives my heart a lift, but it does. Although it's impossible for me to pick out one "favorite" segment of his detailed vision, this tiny image from the lower right side is perhaps the perfect way to thank Albert, and all the dreamers and characters, visionaries, adventurers, scoundrels and outliers that brought us the city we love today. May it endure, and continue to be a shining star for future generations.

"The best is yet to come" - it is now in our hands to bring that dream just a little closer to reality. The Cartoon Art Museum presents highlights from the permanent collection, with a selection of artwork created by Northern California cartoonists and comics that highlight some of our favorite San Francisco landmarks.

Selections include original art from Bil Keane. , as well as recent acquisition illustration art by Albert Tolf detailing futuristic landscapes of San Francisco. San Francisco has been a hotbed of innovative, groundbreaking comic art since the late 1800s with the advent of the modern comic strip, including Bud Fisher's. As well as the underground comix movement in the 1960's in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Today, some of the biggest names in alternative and small-press comics hail from the Bay Area, and a host of talented illustrators, animators, and digital artists call Northern California home.

Other artists have visited the city and shared their impressions in their work. Artists like Bil Keane chronicled their visits to San Francisco in their comics. Local artists like Morrie Turner and Stephan Pastis express their love of the city, while Albert Tolf provides a look at what San Francisco could look like in the future. These artists all show their love and have left their art in San Francisco with the Cartoon Art Museum's permanent collection. About the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.

The Palace of Fine Arts? In 1915 when the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) opened, it was a time of turmoil for the world and for the City of San Francisco. The City was just recovering from the terrible earthquake and fire of 1906. The nations of Europe were engaged in economic and political troubles that would lead to the start of World War I. The civic leaders of San Francisco envisioned a bold plan to bring the world together to encourage trade and to show the future of the world as it could be, and to demonstrate that a rebuilt San Francisco would be truly an international city.

Maybeck was chosen as architect for the Palace of Fine Arts. A student of the École des Beaux-Arts, his design reflects the impression of a Roman ruin. The inspiration for the Palace, with its soaring colonnade, grand rotunda, and carefully constructed pond, was meant to evoke quiet sadness and solemnity. This is most evident as one observes the "weeping ladies" facing into the tops of the columns throughout the park. While visiting a museum in Munich, Maybeck was struck by the Hungarian artist István Csók's depiction of a scene where the notorious Polish princess Elizabeth Bathory is seen throwing freezing water on her naked servants.

Maybeck was also influenced by Arnold Böcklin's Isle of the Dead. This popular work depicts a small island with towering rocks surrounded by water, with trees at the core of the island, and a boatman with mysterious passenger approaching a dark inlet. Maybeck's choice of inspiration from classical painters was interesting, given that the purpose of the Palace of Fine Arts was to showcase artists at a period of time when modern art was beginning to emerge. After the fair, most of the buildings at the PPIE, which were never meant to be permanent, were torn down.

The exception of the Palace of Fine Arts; the citizens of San Francisco felt it was just too beautiful to destroy. Consistent with his design concept, Maybeck had intended that the Palace should just fall into ruin, and so it did for a long time. In the ensuing years the building was used for a variety of purposes. After World War II it was a military storage depot, a warehouse for the Parks Department, a telephone book distribution center, and even temporary Fire Department headquarters. However, the Palace of Fine Arts was never destined to have the same fate as the other buildings of the PPIE.

In 1959 Assemblyman Caspar Weinberger led the effort to completely restore the Palace. Public and private funding efforts were underway, but it seemed the goal was just beyond reach. It was then that businessman and philanthropist Walter S. The Palace of Fine Arts League, a 501(c)3 non-profit, was established in 1962 to provide the means to restore the Palace of Fine Arts.

Walter Johnson's efforts, along with many others, contributed to the creation of the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, which opened in 1970. The Palace of Fine Arts League continues to operate the theater today, honoring the legacy of Maybeck, Johnson, and the many others that have contributed to the rich cultural fabric of San Francisco made possible by the success of the Panama Pacific International Exposition. This item is in the category "Art\Paintings". The seller is "willsusa_utzeqm" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.

Artist: Albert Tolf
Signed By: Albert Tolf
Size: Large
Signed: Yes
Period: Post-War (1940-1970)
Title: \
Material: Canvas, Oil
Region of Origin: California, USA
Framing: Framed
Subject: Landscape
Type: Painting
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 27 in
Style: Americana, Expressionism, Mid Century Modern, Modernism
Theme: Americana, Architecture, Cities & Towns, Disney
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 45 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1950-1959