Famous desert landscape paintings8/9/2023 ![]() We start a new life.' Then, we took a trip to Palm Springs, and well, here I am. I said to my wife, 'Now, this page is turned over. And I'd be a dead millionaire…I got tired of it. I saved them millions of dollars on buildings, on sets – if I'd had any sense, I would have charged more. One of his most famous paintings, lauded by Darryl Zanuck himself was for the movie "Noah's Ark," where he painted massive backdrops that conjured up fantastical images like the far away desert of biblical times and the Tower of Babel.Īccording to an article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise by George Ringwald, Grimm recalled that at the height of his movie career in the 1920s he was paid $350 a week, "and that was a lot of money in those days." He figured he could have made more. ![]() Grimm's knowledge of architecture and perspective made for highly realistic renderings. The actors would be photographed through the lower part of the panel, creating the illusion they were in some foreign land or standing on the steps of an historic building. ![]() To save on excursions for the entire crew to expensive locations and to obviate the need to build sets, backgrounds were instead carefully painted on the upper parts of large glass panels which were then placed close to the camera. In the early days of cinematography, expensive backgrounds would have required travel to capture on film. Grimm painted scenes for movies with the biggest stars of the 1920s: John Barrymore, Douglas Fairbanks and George Arliss. He explained years later: "I showed them my drawings, and I got a job right away and I worked every day." First at MGM, then Fox and finally Warner Bros. Born in South Africa in 1891 to German parents, he grew up in Rochester, New York, won an art scholarship to the Dusseldorf Royal Academy, spent time in Chicago painting theater backdrops and curtains, traveled to South America and landed in Hollywood where he immediately found work as a scene painter. The likeable fellow settled in Palm Springs in 1932 and was a resident for the rest of his life. Grimm paints with a broad stroke, and is best known for his ability in portraying those two best known attributes of the desert, sunlight and billowy clouds," ![]() However, he has roamed the west for years and has produced many striking canvasses of pastoral scenes, marinas, High Sierras, missions and other typically Western views. "Mountains, desert landscapes and desert clouds are his forte. His keen eye captured the eternal and infinitesimal. ![]() Grimm painted the desert landscape in its protean manifestations. Completing the Grimm family picture is 'Cholla,' the inseparable fox terrier pet of the Grimms." Palm Canyon Drive, was described as a "gem of desert architecture" and reportedly constructed in 1941.Įnticing to passersby, Grimm's paintings were also featured covers of the Palm Springs Pictorial magazine, and the magazine explained in 1942: "A colorful, likeable fellow is this Paul Grimm, who, together with his charming wife, has been a component part of the Palm Springs citizenry for the past ten seasons. Opposite The Desert Inn was the Paul Grimm Gallery where his paintings were displayed in the front window and offered for sale. ![]()
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