Alexander Francis Harmer (1856–1925)

Mexican Interior with Parrot, 1890
Original Signed Watercolor – Framed

🔹 Artist: Alexander Francis Harmer (American, 1856–1925)
🔹 Title: Mexican Interior with Parrot (Untitled, dated 1890)
🔹 Medium: Watercolor and graphite on board
🔹 Signature: Signed & dated lower left: A.F. Harmer 1890
🔹 Sight Size: 9.5 × 13.5 in. (24.1 × 34.3 cm)
🔹 Framed Size: 20.75 × 17.75 in. (52.7 × 45.1 cm)
🔹 Frame: Period gilt wood frame under glass
🔹 Condition: Very good overall for age. Colors remain vibrant, and artwork is stable under glass. Light age-related toning visible, typical of works on board from this period. No visible tears, stains, or repairs.
🔹 Provenance: Private U.S. collection; verso bears original F. Weber & Co. art board label

🎨 Artwork Description

Beautifully detailed watercolor by early California artist Alexander Harmer. The scene depicts a seated older man in traditional Mexican attire with a parrot and colorful blanket — a vivid and intimate genre interior. Dated 1890, this work reflects Harmer’s deep ethnographic interest in Californio and Southwestern subjects.

Harmer is recognized as one of the first major Western genre painters in California. His works are held in major institutions, including the Smithsonian, Oakland Museum, and Autry Museum.

📈 Market Info

Signed Harmer watercolors of similar quality have sold for $4,000–8,000 at major auctions (Bonhams, Heritage, Clars).

✅ Highlights

  • Signed & dated 1890

  • Original medium on board

  • Period gilt frame under glass

  • Museum-collected artist

📦 Shipping

Professionally packed and fully insured. Local pickup available.


HARMER, Alexander Francis (1856-1925), New Jersey-born illustrator and painter who sold his first work at age 11. He sold illustrations to Harper’s Weekly and later began painting Indian portraits and depicting the American west. Harmer settled in Santa Barbara in 1906 and married into the Abadie family, one of the pioneer California families. He is considered Southern California’s first great painter of the 19th century. At the family home of Felicidad, Harmer established the first art colony on the West coast. A series of studios was added to the Spanish-Colonial adobe home and Harmer and his family welcomed numerous artists to stay between 1908 and into the 1920s. Some of the many artists who spent time there include Robert Wagner, Thomas Moran, Carl Oscar Borg, John Gamble, Frank Morley Fletcher, Joseph Knowles, Albert Herters, William Otte, Frank Tenney Johnson, Clarence Mattei, and Edward Borein. This modest colony that Harmer established in Santa Barbara saw many of the most important Western artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries pass through its doors. Alexander Harmer died in 1925, leaving a legacy of art dedicated to the American West. The Harmers are buried in Calvary Cemetery, Santa Barbara.



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