Ed. note: Desert artist, museum curator and former Colorado river guide Alan Petersen is seeking work by Gunnar Widforss for a new book. Please see the end of his article for details and a link to Alan’s own work. Swedish-American watercolor artist Gunnar Widforss (1879 – 1934) worked in the California desert around Palm Springs and in the Coachella Valley from 1922 through 1933. Widforss arrived in the United States from Sweden in January 1921. By that time he had made a career and established himself as a well-respected painter in Europe. There he had focused his activity along the…
