‘End of the Range’ at UCI’s Langson Museum depicts lost landscapes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Charlotte Skinner’s paintings cast scenes of a remote portion of the Sierra Nevada before it was reshaped by the creation of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in vivid blues, greens and earth tones, and are the focus of an exhibit opening Saturday at UC Irvine’s Langson Institute and Museum of California Art.

“End of the Range: Charlotte Skinner in the Eastern Sierra” presents 31 of her paintings as well as 24 works from contemporaries in her circle and 13 additional related works. It also features drawings, photographs and other items commemorating the artist’s decades-long career.

“Featuring Skinner’s depictions of the valley’s deserts and mountains in Irvine will help us tell a more expansive and truthful story of California Impressionism through the eyes of a gifted woman not currently represented in the museum’s collection,” Langson IMCA interim museum director Richard Aste said in a statement.

Skinner settled in Owens Valley, an area nestled between Inyo and Mono counties near the Inyo and Sierra national forests, in 1905 and created her first painting the following year. Unspoiled views in a tonalist-inspired style of regional landmarks like Lone Pine Peak, Mount Whitney, Owens Lake and the Alabama Hills are featured prominently in her work.

When the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to divert water from Owens Lake threatened to dramatically alter the landscapes that inspired her for over 30 years, Skinner ran for office in hopes of preserving them. Her efforts were ultimately unsuccessful in halting the tide of development in Southern California during the early 20th century. So, t her work of that of her colleagues memorialize an unmarred vision of the Sierra Nevada before 20th-century human intervention.

“End of the Range” will be on exhibit at the Langson through Jan. 18. The museum is currently located in an interim space at 18881 Von Karman Ave., Suite 100, and open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission and parking are free.