Covered Bridge - O'Byrnes Ferry (a.k.a. - Near Columbia)

Charles Frederick Surendorf

A California Regionalist landscape that also serves as an historic document: Surendorf captures the former O'Byrnes Ferry Bridge that once spanned the Stanislaus River between Tuolomne and Calaveras counties, before the area was flooded for a reservoir in 1957. The bridge was built during the Gold Rush and among its storied past are tales of the bandido Tiburico Vasquez, who used the bridge while escaping capture by the local sheriff. What remains of the structure now rests beneath eighty feet of water.

This blockprint by Northern California printmaker Charles Surendorf was done around 1950. The subject of the composition is near Columbia, California where the artist had establsihed his studio and gallery in 1946. Columbia is located in the Mother Lode country of the Sierra foothills and has been designated a Historic Park, and outdoor museum.

Charles Frederick Surendorf was born on November 9, 1906 in Richmond, Indiana. Following graduation from Ohio State University, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League in New York City. In 1935 he moved to the San Francisco Bay area and further studied at Mills College. Active in the local art scene, he was director of the first San Francisco Art Festival.

In 1946 he settled in the town of Columbia in the Sierra foothills. There he served as director of the short-lived Mother Lode Art School (1956) and produced works with an historic California theme. His paintings and prints depict the rough-and-tumble life of the old mining country in a regionalist style similar to that of Thomas Hart Benton.Surendorf, a colorful character, sold his prints in his gallery, publishing them in editions of 100 impressions, not designating specific edition numbers.

Charles Surendorf died of cancer in Columbia, California on May 28, 1979.