Gunnar Mauritz Widforss (1879 - 1934) Sweden Watercolor on Paper Measure 13"in H x 16 3/4"in W and 20 1/2"in H x 27 1/2"in W with frame Known for: National park landscape painting, illustration. Biography: A native of Sweden, Widforss studied to be a muralist at the Stockholm Institute of Technology from 1895-1900. Following his studies, Widforss earned great acclaim in his native land, and used the proceeds from his sales to European royalty to finance his wanderlust and world travels. In 1921 Widforss moved to San Francisco, after what he'd intended to be a short visit. Travelling extensively through northern California and the American southwest, Widforss found his greatest inspiration in the National parks he found along the way. Though a great many of his works from these travels hang today in Yosemite Valley's Ahwanee Lodge, Widforss is best known for his paintings of the Grand Canyon, where he built and maintained a studio along the rim, and where he was later buried, after his death in 1934. Widforss' watercolors are renowned today for their masterful control of an unforgiving medium. In his works one quickly sees the awe inspiring and accurate depictions of the vast depth and atmosphere of his favorite subject and adopted home, Arizona's Grand Canyon.