Study, Trees, Santa Barbara, California

About this artwork

Research in Progress

Art Historical Context

Samuel Colman, a prominent American landscape painter and founding member of the American Watercolor Society, created this delicate drawing on February 3, 1888, while visiting Santa Barbara, California. At the time, the 55-year-old artist was exploring the varied terrain of the American West, capturing its distinctive natural features with the sensitivity that defined his later career. The work belongs to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection, generously gifted by the artist’s widow, Mrs. Samuel Colman. As a “study,” the drawing offers an intimate glimpse into Colman’s working process. Drawings like this one allowed 19th-century artists to record immediate impressions of light, form, and atmosphere that could later inform larger paintings. Here, Colman focuses on the trees of Santa Barbara, using line and subtle shading to convey their character and the quality of coastal California light. Though modest in scale, such studies reveal the artist’s deep engagement with place and his lifelong commitment to translating the American landscape onto paper. Preserved in the nation’s collection, this sheet connects viewers to both Colman’s personal travels and the broader story of 19th-century artists discovering the West.