A Few Paintings, a Fuzzy News Clipping, and a Side of Incarceration
Thanks to everyone who shared discoveries—turns out we’ve collectively unearthed a small but striking cache of artwork by my grandfather Guy Salisbury Prince.
I went from having never seen any examples of my grandfather’s artwork to having seen THREE examples in a weekend: two paintings and a 1954 newspaper clipping from a juried art show in Tacoma, WA. It’s enough to suggest that whatever else Guy S. Prince may have been, he had an eye for winter scenes and a surprisingly consistent palette. The trees are moody. The snow is thoughtful. The skies say “I’ve got time to brood.”
It’s also worth acknowledging: Guy S. Prince had a life shaped by challenges and bad choices. He grew up in Tuolumne, California, just north of Yosemite, son of a prominent lumberman. He met my grandmother Kate Overstreet in the early 1930s while they were both attending California College of Arts & Crafts (CCAC) in Oakland. The art, in other words, goes back a long way and runs deep. Later, already much challenged by his alcoholism, Guy was incarcerated on McNeil Island, Washington—across the water from Steilacoom—following the killing of his second wife in Juneau, Alaska. The art doesn’t make up for all that, but it does highlight the complexity of his nature.
1. “Bare Trees, Frozen Stream” – Undated, Possibly 1950s
Shared by Laura Lee, this painting dates from when Guy lived briefly with her parents (his sibling) in the 1950s. It has hung in their homes in Crockett, then traveled to Tuolumne when their estate was settled, and now lives in Laura Lee’s office across the straits from Crockett.
“It has always hung in our home, and I’ve always loved it—a definite remembrance of our happy childhood.”
A stark scene, expressive. Bare-limbed trees stretch into gray-blue sky. Ice patches trace a streambed through open snow. Peaceful or eerie—dealer’s choice.
Image credit: Courtesy of Laura Lee.
2. “Snowfield and Fence” – Undated, Location Unknown
To my utter surprise, my brother Guy (Guy E.E. Prince, so ya know) also has a snowy forest painting—one that feels like it could be a companion piece to Laura Lee’s above. The same peaceful solitude, the same shadowed hush of winter. I’ve offered to have it professionally reframed—or, better yet, have my husband (our in-house MFA grad) do the matting and framing himself. This painting comes courtesy of my Uncle Ralph (son of GSP), gifted to Guy Jr. sometime in the past couple of decades.
A sparse alpine fence angles across a silent white field, with dense forest and snowcapped bluffs rising in the background. Courtesy of Ralph Prince (son of GS Prince) and gifted to his nephew Guy Edwin Eugene Prince.
Image credit: Guy E.E. Prince
3. “Street Scene” Mentioned in Tacoma News Tribune – April 18, 1954
Excerpt reads:
“On the wall, top left, is ‘Street Scene’ by Guy S. Prince of Steilacoom… given honorable mention.”
This clipping is the first solid documentation we’ve found of Guy exhibiting publicly. He entered the Tacoma Art League’s juried show while living in Steilacoom—possibly during or after incarceration on McNeil Island. The artwork itself is just a vague blur in the photo, but the paper confirmed it earned him an honorable mention. That’s not nothing.
The Takeaway
So, what do we do with all this? Maybe nothing more than say: the man could paint. And maybe the winter landscapes—so still and removed—offered him a kind of peace he didn’t find elsewhere. There’s a strange comfort in knowing that art made it through.
It is said that he moved to Juneau, Alaska, in the first place to paint murals on the territorial capitol building, though I have been unable to find any evidence of his work there. If more paintings emerge, send them my way. I’m archiving everything on the blog so they’ll be together for anyone curious about where we come from, artistically and otherwise.
Sacramento, California • Fri, Oct 25, 1946
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