One of Thomas Moran's paintings can be seen on the wall of the Oval Office in 2017. Image: photograph by Pete Souza
Landscape Artist Lands in Santa Barbara in 1917
Thomas Moran, was "perhaps the most eminent landscape painter ever known to American art circles," according to the local paper in January 1917. The 80-year-old artist and his daughter settled here for a four-month stay.
"Mr. Moran has made his fame in the Rocky Mountain region, especially in the Grand Canyon and the Yellowstone, where he has got the main inspiration in the way of what he calls 'big scenery.'"
The Santa Barbara Mission was among the local scenes he painted here. One of his works, "The Three Tetons," was hung in the Oval Office at the White House.