A Southern Californian Painter of Trains

jocelmeow — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:43:05 -0800

Please help me find information on Svenningsen, a Southern Californian painter who favored trains, active in the 70s. Following on the major success of the question about Verily Hammons, I'm hoping AskMe can help me find information on another Southern Californian painter.

While visiting my paternal grandparents in Southern California in 1974, my parents bought, at a street fair, possibly in San Diego, a large painting of a Union Pacific train, depicted on a snowy night. The best picture I have of it is here. (Please attempt to ignore Mary and Erin.)

My mother remembers that the painter, whose last name she believes was Svennigsen (no recollection of his first name, sorry), had a number of paintings of trains for sale. Some were of a few cars, another was a long range view of a train on a trestle crossing a snowy mountain pass.

In addition to the train painting, which they bought as an anniversary present to themselves, my mother was taken with an etching by the same artist that pictured a boy and a girl in a foreboding, fairy-tale-like forest, with a castle in the distance. It was titled "Enchanted Wood." They purchased both the painting and the etching, and spent somewhere between $250 and $300 on the two pieces together.

Unfortunately, we have neither work at this point. For some reason my parents did not divide the paintings when they divorced, and at some time between then (1988) and now, my father let go of both.

I wish I could get the painting and etching back, which I'm entirely sure is impossible, but I'd be happy just to know more about this artist, if anyone has information to share. Thanks.

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A Southern Californian Painter of Trains