Gunnar Widforss (1879–1934) was a Swedish-born watercolour painter celebrated for detailed landscapes of the American Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon. Born in Stockholm, he trained as a decorative painter at the city's Technical School before travelling extensively in Europe and North Africa.
After visiting the United States earlier in his career, Widforss returned in 1921 and began painting California's coast and mountains. He first visited the Grand Canyon in 1923 and eventually made his home on its South Rim. His watercolours combine precise observation of rock formations and vegetation with the changing colours of desert light.
Widforss spent weeks exploring the canyon on foot, sometimes staying at Phantom Ranch near the Colorado River. His Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon (1925) records a subject closely associated with these journeys. The Fred Harvey Company exhibited his paintings at the El Tovar Hotel, introducing his work to visitors.
Like Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt before him, Widforss helped shape the visual image of the American West, although his restrained watercolours differ markedly from their monumental oil paintings. He died in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1934.
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Widforss, Gunnar (1879-1934) - Phantom Ranch, Grand Canyon 1925
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