News & Events

June, July, August 2008         

Bob Ehrlich quietly goes about his presidential duties without most members knowing how much he does or has done for the HCC since its inception in 1985.

As a child, Bob hardly could guess that art eventually would become such an important factor in his life.

Born in Detroit to a father and mother who had immigrated to America as a result of the Russian Revolution (1912 and 1917 respectively), Bob’s childhood aesthetic experiences primarily were limited to music.  His father and sister both played the violin, and visits to the homes of friends often included live performances.

His first experience with art came one summer while he was working on his Masters in English at the University of Michigan.  Employed by the City of Detroit, his assignment was to write a civil service exam for a curator’s position at the Detroit Institute of Arts.  That drove him to the archives of the Museum to do research, and he discovered that he had a great interest in art and art history.

After a stint in the army teaching English in Puerto Rico, he returned to the U. S. and took a job teaching at a high school in Long Beach.  He then moved to Pasadena City College and began working on a Ph. D. in English at USC and then at Pomona.  Switching to investment banking, he met his wife-to-be Barbara Biggar and her two children and after marriage in 1968 they settled down in a 1920’s house in La Canada.

 Barbara had an interest in art and about 1973-74 in conjunction with several other mothers, instigated a program where she would visit area schools once a month to discuss art.  She was known as the Picture Lady.  Parallel to this she served as a docent at the Pasadena Museum of Art, then located on Los Robles Avenue.  In 1969 the Museum moved to new quarters on Colorado Street (currently the Norton Simon Museum).  Shifting storerooms, the Museum discovered it had a collection of early California impressionism in its basement.  In 1974, Eudorah (“Eudi”) Moore curated an exhibit at the Pasadena Center titled “California Design, 1910.”  It was devoted to the arts and crafts movement that took place in Pasadena and the Arroyo Seco in the first two decades of the twentieth century, and over 20 pages of the catalogue were devoted to approximately 50 local painters and sculptors, including many who are de rigueur with collectors today.  At the time these were generally unknown artists.  Few commercial galleries featured even a couple California works, and other than the research being done by Nancy Moure, there was very little in writing.

At the time Bob and Barbara owned a few modern prints by such artists as Claus Oldenburg and Frank Stella but did not consider themselves art collectors.  Bob had a collection of American Indian art, which he started when he was teaching English and which now primarily resides in boxes in his garage.  Barbara, who was docenting at the Museum, was struck by the beauty of the California works and thought Bob might enjoy collecting them.  Prices were affordable.

From 1977 onward, Barbara and Bob made the rounds of used furniture stores, antique shops, swap meets and garage sales.  Poulsen’s in Pasadena was a ripe source.  They educated themselves with the few publications then available.  Bob has wonderful stories about paintings they discovered—for example a small Maurice Braun, 5 x 7 in., acquired for $25.00 and a small Bischoff, 14 ½ x 19 in., for $200.00.

In 1978 Bob and Barbara bought what they considered their first really nice painting – a Franz Bischoff from Marian Bowater Gallery.  Most important for Bob was the 1979 show at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, “Southern California Artists 1890—1940”.  The catalogue, arranged alphabetically by artist’s last names, contained a biography and reproduced one work by each artist.  This became a kind of Bible for the couple, and they began to seek out works by those artists whose style they liked.  About this time Bob’s interest advanced beyond decorating their house to real collecting, and Barbara, whose interest was not as intense, bowed out and wished him well.

In addition to Marian Bowater and Frank Leonard’s’ galleries on La Cienega and Melrose Place, Bob and Barbara discovered Petersen’s first gallery, located on Wilshire Boulevard and featuring Western art.  Jean was a wonderful “find” in that he not only was educational about the art and became a good friend, but he also was generous in referring Bob to other dealers, such as his brother, George Stern, who was working out of his house in the San Fernando Valley, and to Ray Redfern, located in Encino.  They purchased their first major painting, a 30 x 40 in. Puthuff, “Winter’s Gold,” from George.

The Ehrlich’s kept in touch with Jean Stern, and in the early 1980s, after Petersen Galleries moved to Rodeo Drive and turned its focus to California art, Jean told Bob about “a lady who was writing a book on early California Impressionism.”  Could Ruth Westphal view Bob’s collection with the idea of borrowing some pieces for reproduction in her book?  Bob immediately clicked with Ruth and to this day holds her in the highest esteem and counts her as one of his closest friends.  Several of his paintings appeared in her Plein Air Painters of California:  The Southland (1982).

Jean also introduced Bob to Mary Hendrickson (now Hamilton), who was helping the Fieldstone Company of Irvine acquire paintings by historic California artists.

During a dinner with Mary and Jean at Las Brisas in Laguna Beach, the three discussed starting an organization for collectors of California art.  In the relatively new field, people could profit from exchanging ideas, listening to lectures, and visiting museum shows—if some could be mounted.  As a result, on May 21, 1985 thirty-four people, many of whom had never met, showed up for an organizational meeting at Petersen Galleries (see editorial below).  The idea of an organization was favorably received, and some members next met at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art where they formulated bylaws, elected Ty Brenner president, and took the name Historical Collections Council.  The third meeting was held at Mary’s house.  The first event was a viewing of Bob and Barbara’s collection in La Canada.

Among this pioneering crowd were Bob and Nadine Hall.  Through Bob Hall, Ehrlich was invited to join the Laguna Beach Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees.  He and the HCC then put pressure on the Museum to mount a show of historic California art.  Janet Dominik (now Blake) curated “Early Artists of Laguna Beach:  The Impressionists” (1986), which was dedicated to Barbara Ehrlich, who had died earlier that year.

1986 otherwise was not a good year for Bob.  His wife, Barbara, died unexpectedly just one day after completing her CPA certificate, and for the next few years, he felt his life was without purpose.  Mischa Askenazy’s “Dorothy Reading” was given to the Laguna Beach Museum of Art by a number of friends in Barbara’s honor.  Bob limited his working career to private money management, which he continued to his retirement in 1996.

In 1987 Bob and then acting director of the LAM, Mike McGee, conceived the show “California Light” (1990-91).  Dr. Patricia Trenton was suggested as curator, and her proposal for a show and catalogue costing $50,000 was accepted.  The Fieldstone Company was the major underwriter.  Against political odds, Bob saw the show through completion (he resigned from the LAM Board after its first venue) and was largely responsible for raising the more than $150,000 it ultimately cost, some from his own pocketbook, but most from the continued loyalty of some of the HCC membership and the Fieldstone Company.  The exhibit was the first to expose California Impressionism to venues outside the State.

Bob first served as President of the HCC 1989-1991.  By 1990 he had sold his large Spanish-style home in La Canada and moved into a charmingly remodeled cottage in Laguna Beach overlooking the ocean.  Although at one time he owned over eighty paintings, with no space in the new quarters to hang them, Bob reluctantly parted with about two thirds.  His greatest heartbreak was selling his Guy Rose, “November.”  When the HCC visited his cottage in late 1990, he had on view a large painting by Joseph Kleitsch, titled “Problematicus.”  The jewel of his collection, he had fallen in love with it upon first seeing it in the 1979 LAM show, and only later was able to acquire it from Adamson-Duvannes Art Galleries.  He still owns it, along with paintings by Alson Clark, Franz Bischoff, Thomas Hunt, Joseph Raphael, George Brandriff, Ejnar Hansen, Phil Dike and Granville Redmond, among others.

In 1997, at a South Coast Repertory party at the home of LAM Trustee Teri and John Kennady, Bob’s life dramatically changed when he met Susan.  They immediately realized that they had much in common.  Susan had attended Stanford University and while raising a family had completed her Art Major at the University of California, Irvine.  Coincidentally her aunt is Joseph Raphael’s daughter.

The two currently live in a French country style house at Smithcliffs in Laguna Beach.  Susan loves the HCC as much as Bob and, as Bob says, if they weren’t married, she’d probably attend the meetings on her own.  Their home is hung with Bob’s Plein Air collection, in addition to several more recent acquisitions, including three paintings by Roger Kuntz and their piece de resistance acquired together, a view of the Japanese Teahouse in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, by Joseph Raphael.  The collection also includes Susan’s collections of 18th and 19th Century dog paintings, 17th Century Dutch flower engravings, and in the library, engravings by Giovanni Piranesi, Sir Colen Campbell of “Kips” (1715) and of French classic sculpture, circa 1750.  And the closets are full!

Bob was re-elected HCC President in 2001, returning to the reins at the request of long-time friend Ruth Westphal.  He was pleased in 2003 to turn leadership over to Brandon Buza, whose talents he lauds, but re-took the reins in 2005 when Buza’s job promoted him to the Bay Area.

In 1996, when the Laguna Art Museum took the new name, Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) and merged with the Newport Harbor Art Museum, the HCC became a Council of OCMA.  However, in 2003 the new director of OCMA suggested to Bob that the Council change its focus to contemporary art.  That didn’t make much sense to Bob, and the HCC, with about 80 members at the time, was asked to leave OCMA.  Approaching the Irvine Museum, Jean Stern suggested the HCC might like to affiliate with the Irvine Museum but remain its own independent tax free organization.  In that way, HCC monies could support any museum doing worthy work in California art.  Through the help of a number of people, including HCC treasurer, Walter Lachman, the HCC became a fully tax free charitable organization and so far has financially aided approximately ten museums with restoration, catalogues, exhibits and bussing children to the Museum.

Under Bob’s leadership, the HCC has flourished.  It has enjoyed increased membership, sponsored a strong slate of informative lectures and stimulating day trips, and made generous contributions to California art projects at many museums.  Currently there are approximately 150 people in the HCC.

Bob is now looking forward to the Annual Dinner at the Pacific Club on June 21 that includes a lecture on Joseph Kleitsch and a book signing by author Dr. Patricia Trenton.  His highly popular May visit to the home and collection of Gail and Peter Ochs will be repeated in mid July to include the many people who couldn’t fit into the first showing.

Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Bob!  Your secret is now out.  Don’t be surprised if a few members come up and shake your hand.

• On May 21, 1985, twenty-three years ago, 35 persons gathered at Petersen Galleries in Beverly Hills to learn about a new collectors’ group that was in the process of formation.  Amazingly the “sign-in” sheet for that event survives in the HCC’s archives, and it is fascinating to look back and see who attended.  Seeing the hand written signatures is so human, like seeing the people themselves.
• Mary Hendrickson (now Hamilton) – employed by Fieldstone which was then assembling a collection of paintings.  Along with Jean Stern and Bob Ehrlich she conceived the idea for the HCC.
• James M. Ries – along with his wife Linda he was building a collection of California art and this culminated in the book/exhibition A Time and Place: From the Ries Collection of California Painting, Oakland Museum, 1990.
• Tobey Moss -- owner Tobey Moss Gallery on Beverly Boulevard. (See website.)
  Jim Zidell  -- collector
• Nancy Moure -- Assistant Curator of American Art at the Los Angeles Museum of Art and author of several publications on historic California art.
• Bob Bethea – stepson of artist Arthur Rider
• Jay Ingerle – son of artist Rudolf Ingerle
• Ken and Kay Roberts -- owners Acorn Fine Art in Brea which sold California art; they moved their gallery to Palm Springs and eventually left the art field and moved out of state.
• Terri Callahan -- ?
• Herb Hilchey --  ?
• Don C. Jack – collector; current member of the HCC
• Bill Kurschat – collector; along with wife Marti is current member of the HCC.
• Leo K. Michelson -- collector
• Julie Noyes -- collector
• Ray Redfern -- owner Redfern Galleries in Encino; has since moved to Laguna Beach.
• Ed Korb -- collector/dealer, was active in the HCC for many years before his death.  (See obituary in January 2000 HCC Newsletter).
• Russell Ludwick -- medical doctor, collector; deceased.
• Donald W. Grant -- collector
• George Stern – dealer  (See Publications in California Art, no. 9.)
• Bob and Barbara Ehrlich -- collectors; with Jean Stern and Mary Hendrickson conceived the idea of the HCC and has served as its president several times.  (See biography, above.)
• Bob and Nadine Hall -- collectors; Bob served as HCC president.
• Bob McDonald – curator at Laguna Beach Museum of Art
• Robert Simpson -- collector of figure paintings; has since moved to Israel
• Martin and Brigitte Medak -- collectors
• Lucinda and Gates Burrows -- daughter and son-in-law of artist William A. Griffith; also related to Benjamin Brown
• Ty Brenner -- collector and first president of the HCC; deceased.  (See obituary in HCC Newsletter May 1992.)
• Janet Dominik (now Blake) -- writer/curator in California art; now working for the Laguna Art Museum.  (See biography in Publications in California Art, v. 9.)
• Julia and Frank Tan -- collectors (See “California Eclectic: Collectors Frank and Julia Tan,” Antiques & Fine Art, v. 8, no. 2, Jan/Feb 1991, pp. 69-72.)
• Jean Stern -- director of Petersen Galleries; currently Executive Director Irvine Museum; along with Bob Ehrlich and Mary Hendrickson conceived the idea of the HCC.  (See biography in HCC Newsletter for March 2007.)
• Mary Lewis   -- assistant, Petersen Galleries.

Jean Stern discusses the above list in his history of the Irvine Museum that appears in Joan Irvine Smith’s A California Woman’s Story, Irvine, Ca.: Irvine Museum, 2006, p. 470.

Stern also discusses our field’s early collectors and authors in his essay, “The California Impressionist Style in Perspective,” in Susan Landauer, et al, California Impressionists, Georgia Museum of Art, 1996.

A watercolor by Milford Zornes, now on view at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Anderson Art Gallery, will be auctioned at John Moran’s next sale on June 24, 2008 at 7 p.m. and the proceeds will go to the Museum.  A reproduction of the painting, along with details, can be found at johnmoran.com after June 14, 2008.

Frederic Stern has opened the Frederic Stern Gallery at 55 West Del Mar Boulevard in Pasadena.  See www.fredericsterngallery.com.  The Grand Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, May 17 from 6-9 p.m.  Stern represents a number of contemporary artists but also carries historic names such as Conrad Buff, Francis DeErdely, Sam Hyde Harris, Emil Kosa, Jr., Jean Mannheim, Ben Messick, Edgar Payne, Dedrick Stuber, Orrin White, and others.  Tel: 626-792-3320.

The Historical Art Council of the Laguna Art Museum spent Saturday, May 17, 2008 visiting San Diego.  The day began with a visit to the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Richard and Lucie Smith in La Jolla.  The Smiths collect California art of the Impressionist and 1930s styles.  The collection nestles appropriately among Native American textiles and American antique furniture.  (In 1988 the Smiths gave a Maurice Braun titled Sunlit Spaces to the Laguna Art Museum.)  Following lunch at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa, the group visited the Oceanside Museum of Art where Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950, curated by Bram Dijkstra, is on view.  Dijkstra is professor emeritus on comparative literature at the University of California, San Diego and author of several art books, most recently, Belle Baranceanu: The Artist at Work and American Expressionism: Art and Social Change, 1920-1950. 

William A. Karges Fine Art of Carmel and Beverly Hills has just issued a 52-page, perfect bound Recent Acquisitions with Kate Freeman Clark’s “In the Orchard” on the cover.  Many color reproductions including fine examples by Guy Rose, Percy Gray, Edith White, Angel Espoy, Joseph Raphael, and C. S. Price.

The Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. has an Online Catalogue of Prints & Photographs that is accessible via the Internet – www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html.  Over 1,000,000 images: prints, posters, photographs, etc.  Of special interest to Californians is the Lawrence & Houseworth Collection (about 900 photographic prints ca. 1862-1867 of stereographic photos of California), and the Genthe Collection (about 15,600 negatives and 1,200 autochromes, lantern slides and transparencies by Arnold Genthe who is best known for his photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown).  Works by other California artists are included in other general collections.

Josh Hardy Galleries sends an email announcing recent arrivals including works by Edgar Payne, Charles Rollo Peters, Jessie Arms Botke, Birger Sandzen, Selden Gile, and William Adam.  See www.hardygalleries.com.

Furniture maker Sam Maloof has established the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts.  It publishes a newsletter “The Wooden Latch”.  The Summer 2007 issue reproduces a gallery in the foundation’s new Education Center that displays post-WWII artists’ paintings from Maloof’s private collection along with furniture.  See www.malooffoundation.org.

The Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Monthly for April 2008 provides information on an exhibit at the San Francisco Public Library titled “75th Anniversary of the New Deal.”  A map shows locations of extant New Deal murals.  Also on the web page is an article reprint from the 1909 San Francisco Call describing artwork in local shops. 

The 2007 exhibition  – A Tapistry of Life: The World of Millard Sheets – has been captured in video and can be viewed on the website of the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts, Fairplex, Pomona.  Link is www.fairplex.com/fp/foundations/MillardSheets/podcast/

“A 1930s mural at San Diego State University, hidden for decades under ceiling tiles, is restored.”  Two murals, were discovered in the summer of 2004 in the University’s Hardy Tower.  Not federally funded, they were painted by art students: Genevieve Bredo and George Sorensen.  Bredo’s, painted directly on a concrete wall, was removed by a laborious technique called strappo.  This mural, now restored, hangs in the university’s Love Library where it was unveiled this past March.  The second mural, whose theme is tuna fishing, one of early San Diego’s major industries, is in egg tempera, and the school is currently locating funds to salvage and restore it.  Both Bredo and Sorensen became influential art teachers in San Diego.
(from story by Sherry Saavedra, San Diego Union Tribune, March 2, 2008.)

Permanent displays of historic (pre-1945) California paintings can be found at the following institutions.  (The websites for some of these institutions can be found at www.californiaart.com at the end of the ‘Galleries’ section.)  Arranged North to South.

See earlier Newsletters for exhibits that might still be on view.

February 29 – May 25, 2008.  Stories of Survival: Walking with Weavers through Generations of Time, Western Center for Archaeology and Paleontology, Hemet, Ca.  Native American baskets.  75 baskets from private and public collections throughout Southern California.

March 3 – April 20, 2008.  Power Up: Serigraphs by Corita Kent, Thacher Gallery at University of San Francisco.

March 8 – April 13, 2008.  The Stage and Its People, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara.  Includes work by early California artists Colin Campbell Cooper, Dan Lutz, Ben Messick, Fred Penney, and Dorothy Sklar.

March 20 – May 18, 2008.  Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow, Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  Photographer son of Edward Weston.

March 29 – July 27, 2008.  Wayne Thiebaud: 70 Years of Painting, Springville Museum of Art.  Retrospective of Bay Area Pop Expressionist of the early post World War II period.

April 5 – June 28, 2008.  Modernist Women: Views of Our Culture, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles.  Included in the show are Mary L. Finley Fry, Elise Seeds, Claire Falkenstein, Dorr Bothwell, Beatrice Wood, and Helen Lundeberg.

April 12 – July 27, 2008.  Curators’ Choice: Objects Selected from the Museum’s Collections, Pasadena Museum of History.  Chosen by museum staff and volunteer curators.  Includes art, paintings, textiles, ceramics, photographs, postcards, illustrations, plans, maps, advertisements and antiques.

April 25 – August 17, 2008.  The Past on a Plate: The Photographs of John Calvin Brewster, Ventura Museum.  Ventura’s first photographer captured the area on glass plate negatives between 1874 and 1909.  Since the Ventura Museum is being renovated, this exhibit is held at the 89 California Street site.

May and June 2008.  Early California Art: 19th Century Painters of Northern California, Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery.  This show contains work by many artists not often seen.  A full listing can be found at www.bbhgallery.com/BBHGallery_Show_May_Jun_08.htm. 

May/June, 2008.  Painting California: Land of Light, Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, L. A.   Artists include George Brandriff, Ben Carre, Barbara Duncan, E. Charlton Fortune, J. Bond Francisco, Armin Hansen, Albert Londraville, Warren Newcombe, Douglass Parshall, Karl Thomas Vralati, Tyrus Wong and others.

May 1 – June 29, 2008.  Anders Aldrin (1889-1970), Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara.  See www.sullivangoss.com/exhibits/anders_aldrin2008.asp.  Expressionist active from the late 1920s in Los Angeles.  The exhibit is accompanied by an 8-page brochure.

May 1 – June 29, 2008.  Howard Warshaw: Looking In, Drawing Out, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara.  See: www.sullivangoss.com/exhibits/howard_warshaw2007.asp.  Master draftsman.  Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara from 1957 to his death in 1977.  The show is accompanied by an 8-page brochure.

May 2-4, 2008.  Los Angeles Modernism Show & Sale, Santa Monica civic Auditorium.  Design of the 20th century 1900-1980.  90+ international exhibitors.  For details see www.lamodernism.com.

May 2 – June 8, 2008.  Milford Zornes, Chaffey Community Art Association Museum, J. Filippi Winery, Rancho Cucamonga.  Art produced while Zornes was an artist in WWII in India, Burma and China.

May 3 – August 17, 2008.  It’s All About Me: California Artists’ Self-Portraits, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.  Fourteen paintings and photographs from the museum’s permanent collection show a range of approaches and styles.  Works by Clarence Hinkle, Helen Lundeberg, Robert Arneson, Henry Miller, Alma Lavenson and Mary Latour.

May 3 – October 5, 2008.  Edwin Deakin: Painter of the Picturesque, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno.  Travels from the Crocker Art Museum.

May 16 - ?  Ink & Paint: The Art of Hand-Drawn Animation, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Showcases artwork mainly from the 1950s through the 1990s made for Warner Brothers, Disney and UPA studios.

May 17 – August 17, 2008.  Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, Oakland Museum of California.  Traveled from the Orange County Museum of Art.

May 20 – July 2, 2008.  Fashionable Dress in an Artistic Landmark: The Gamble House, circa 1908, Gamble House, Pasadena.  Manikins representing Gamble family members are posed as if to celebrate a winter holiday.  All are dressed in period dress loaned by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.  Family photographs show that the Gambles were relatively fashionable for their era.  Their simple, comfortable style befit the easy-going Southern California lifestyle.

May 24 – July 15, 2008.  Small Gems, George Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.  Includes works by most of the well known plein air painters of Southern California.  Accompanied by a 3-fold brochure with 20 color reproductions and price list.

May 30 – September 1, 2008.  Yosemite 1938: On the Trail with Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe from the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Rockwell Museum, Corning, N. Y.

June – September 2008.  150 Years of Los Angeles Photography, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino.

July 8 – November 8, 2008.  CloseUp: Evelyn McCormick, Monterey Museum of Art.  Focus on McCormick’s “Sherman’s Headquarters in Monterey.”

July 12 – September 21, 2008.  Carl Sammons: California Impressionist, Landscapes from the Donna Walsh Sumner Collection, Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary’s College, Moraga.  Long time resident of the Bay Area, Sammons was “inspired to paint landscapes by his belief in God and his love of God’s creation.”

July 12 – October 12, 2008.  Made in Hollywood: Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.  Drawn from the rich archive at the John Kobal Foundation in London, this exhibition of more than 90 images focuses on the stars, the sets and the scenes created by the film industry and memorialized by the most important photographers who worked in Hollywood from 1920-1960.

July 13 – October 12, 2008.  Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner, Hammer Museum, Westwood.  Lautner (1911-1994) who spent most of his career in Los Angeles, created more than 150 distinctive structures.  Trained by Frank Lloyd Wright, Lautner is best known for such private homes as the Elrod Residence in Palm Springs, featured in the James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever, and Los Angeles’s iconic “Chemosphere”.  The show will be accompanied by a 234 page catalogue published by Rizzoli, the first comprehensive study of the architect.  (from the website)

July 16 – October 12, 2008.  Vanishing Los Angeles: The Photography of Mary Bowling, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara.  Over 40 photographs (color and black-and-white) of the city from the late 1950s to the early 1960s.  Bowling, a Korean-American photographer, captures on film the architectural changes in downtown and subtly questions the nature of progress and the impact of modernization.  Many of her images show Bunker Hill where Victorian homes were demolished for skyscrapers.  Born Rita Chang in Santa Barbara and raised in El Paso, Texas, she earned a MS from USC in 1936 and did graduate work at Cal Tech before going on to New York to pursue a career in industrial design.  After her return to LA she taught at Chouinard Art Institute.  She received the “Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year Award” in 1957.

July 16 – October 12, 2008.  A Beautiful Nothing: The Architecture of Edward A. Killingsworth, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara.   Southern California architect who achieved international prominence during the 1960s with his signature light-weight wooden post-and-lintel residences and commercial buildings.

July 19 – September 28, 2008.  Everett Gee Jackson/ San Diego Modern, 1920-1955, Georgia Museum of Art.  Traveled from the San Diego Museum of Art.

July 23 – November 9, 2008.  Richard Diebenkorn, Artist, and Carey Stanton, Collector: Their Stanford Connection, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford.  Carey Stanton, donor of Santa Cruz Island to The Nature Conservancy, attended Stanford and collected paintings by his friend, artist, Richard Diebenkorn.

August 16, 2008 – January 26, 2009.  Schulz’s Beethoven: Schroeder’s Muse, Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa.  In Peanuts’ strips that reference Beethoven, Schulz painstakingly copied musical scores, note by note.  In this exhibition the Beethoven-themed strips will be accompanied by the actual musical notes that appear in the strips. 

On-line exhibit.  Grim Natwick’s Scrapbook, ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive, Burbank.   Illustrator and cartoonist in Hollywood from the 1930s.  See: www.animationarchive.org.

September 5 – November 1, 2008.  On the Road: Farm Security Administration, Dorothea Lange, Robert Frank, Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College, Chicago.  Photos of migrants and farm workers commissioned by the Farm Security Administration.

September 11 – November 20, 2008.  You See: The Early Years of the U. C. Davis Art Department, Bakersfield Museum of Art.

The following antiquarian book dealers have substantial holdings of out-of-print books on California art: Arcana on the Santa Monica Mall (310-458-1499), Ken Starosciak in San Francisco (415-346-0650), and Muz Art and Books, Sacramento (no telephone; searchable on www.abebooks.com ).  If you know a title, it can be searched on www.abebooks.com or www.bibliofind.com to get comparative prices from dealers across the nation.  Searching a book on www.oclc.org -- registration is free -- will bring up local libraries that have the book.

Among dealers in new books on California art are the antiquarian dealers cited above, the bookstores of museums that specialize in California art (see list of museums above under ‘Exhibitions’) as well as John Moran Auctioneer in Pasadena, Kerwin Galleries in Burlingame, George Stern Fine Arts in LA, Sullivan-Goss in Santa Barbara, and DeRu’s Fine Arts in Bellflower and Laguna Beach. 

Joyce Brodsky, Experiences of Passage: The Paintings of Yun Gee & Li-Lan, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008.  246 pp.  69 illus.

Duccio Kaumualii Marignoli and Marzia Ratti, Matteo Sandona and Hawaii: A Capital Ambition, Honolulu: Academy of Arts, 2007.  96 pp.  53 illus.

Scott A. Shields, Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque, Sacramento: Crocker Art Museum, in association with Pomegranate Communications of Petaluma, 2008.  120 pp.  80 col. Illus.

Don Peri, Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists, Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2008.  274 pp.

Ed Herny, et al., Berkeley Bohemia: Artists and Visionaries of the Early 20th Century, Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2008.  208 pp.  150 illus.

Manuel Valencia: California’s Native Son, essay by Julie Armistead, Moraga, Ca.: Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary’s College, 2006.  14  pp.  17 color illus.  $ 9.95.

Footloose in Arcadia: Artists and Authors of Piedmont from 1890-1930, essay by Ann Swift, Moraga, Ca.: Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary’s College, 2007.  22 pps., 19 color illus.  $ 9.95.

Joseph Traugott, Gustave Baumann’s Southwest, Petaluma, Ca.: Pomegranate Communications, 2007.  80 pp.

Richard Samuel West, The San Francisco Wasp: An Illustrated History, Easthampton, Ma.: Periodyssy Press, 2004.  This highly read California periodical lasted from 1876 to 1941 and contained many illustrations and political cartoons that are reproduced in this book. 

Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, A Century of Model Animation from Melies to Aardman, Watson-Guptill?, 2008.  240 pp.  Bringing models to life by filming them one frame at a time was the most important technique for creating cinematic monsters and fantasy creatures before the advent of the computer.  In use from the beginning of film in the early twentieth century to the present day.

Christopher D. Salyers, Translating Hollywood, West New York: Mark Batty Publisher, 2008.   160 pp.  $45.00  Examines how movie posters are artistically modified to appeal to specific audiences in foreign countries.  Illustrations from Sam Sarowitz’s Posteritati Gallery collection of movie posters.

Michael Stern and Alan Hess, Julius Shulman: Palm Springs, Palm Springs Art Museum/Rizzoli International, 2008.  208 pp., 243 illus.  Mid century photographer.

Daniel P. Gregory, Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House, New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 2008.  256 pp.  186 illus.

William David Estrada, The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.  376 pp.  62 illus.

Stefanos Polyzoides, et al., Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles: A Typological Analysis, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, Inc., 2008.  (first published 1982).  Housing style popular 1900-1945.

Eugene O. Murmann, California Gardens of the Arts & Crafts Period, Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2008.  116 pp.  153 illus.

April Dammann’s book on Earl Stendahl and the Stendahl Gallery will be published in 2008.

Bram Dijkstra, “Masterpieces of San Diego Painting, 1900-1950,” American Art Review, v. XX, No. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 114-25.

Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick & Julia Armstrong-Totten, “The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906-1953,” American Art Review, v. XX, no. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 126-33.

Traci A. Fieldsted, “Wayne Thiebaud: 70 Years of Painting,” American Art Review, v. XX, no. 2, March/April 2008, pp. 136-41.

John E. Allen, “Above It All: Bird’s-Eye Views of California,” California State Library Bulletin, no. 88, 2007, pp. 2-13.

Jean Stern, “California Flowers in Art,” American Art Review, v. XX, no. 3, May-June 2008, pp. 96-99.

Robert M. Dickover, “Maynard Dixon, Artist of the Bookplate,” California State Library Foundation Bulletin, no. 89, 2008, pp. 2-5.  (on line)

George Basye, “Sacramento’s Historic 1862 Flood as Reported in the Illustrated London News,” California State Library Foundation Bulletin, no. 89, 2008, pp. 10-15.  (on line)

Gary F. Kurutz, “The Dr. Dean L. Mawdsley Collection of Rare Prints, Posters, Trade Cards, and Western Americana,” California State Library Foundation Bulletin, no. 89, 2008, pp. 16-25.  (on line)

Joe Louis Moore, “In Our Own Image: Black Artists in California, 1880-1970,” California History Magazine, 1996, v. 75, no. 3, p. 264.

Edgar C. Smith, “The Navy Went Over the Mountains,” California Territorial Quarterly, no. 71, Fall 2007, pp. 4-24.  Discusses the Wilkes expedition whose artists created some of the first images of California.

Donald Duke, “William Parker Lyon’s Pony Express Museum,” California Territorial Quarterly, no. 63?, Fall 2005, pp. 26-33.  This museum of California/Western history was located in Pasadena in the 1920s and 1930s.  See also Publications in California Art, no. 8.

Richard Steven Street, “Everyone Had Cameras: Photographers, Photography and the Farmworker Experience in California,” California History, v. 83, no. 2, 2005, pp. 8-25.

Alison Preston and William Preston, “Pictured Landscapes of the South San Joaquin Valley, California: Lithographs of the 1880s and 1890s,” California History, v. 83, no. 1, 2005, pp. 41-58. 

Adam Arensen, “Ansel Adams’s Eucalyptus Tree, Fort Ross: Nature, Photography and the Search for California,” California History, v. 82, no. 4, 2005, pp. 10-25.

“Jo Mora,” California History, v. 82, no. 4, 2005, pp. 3-5.

Jourdan Moore Houston and Alan Fraser Houston, “California on his Mind: The Easel and Pen of Pioneer George Douglas Brewerton,” California History, v. 81, no. 1, 2002, pp. 2-23.

Scott A. Shields, “Eternal Light: Visions of Gottardo Piazzoni,” California History, v. 80, no. 2/3, Summer/Fall 2001, pp. 106-23.  Tonalist modernist of the Bay Area.

Claudine Chalmers, “Splendide Californie,” California History, v. 79, no. 4, Winter 2000/2001, pp. 154-79.  French artists in California.

Alan Fraser Houston, “Cadwalader Ringgold, U. S. Navy Gold Rush Surveyor of San Francisco Bay and Waters to Sacramento 1849-1850,” California History, v. 79, no. 4, Winter 2000/2001, pp. 208-21.

Anthony Kirk, “The Rise of Art in Gold Rush California,” California History, Summer 2000, Chapter 7.

John Hazeltine of tfaoi.org reminds us that his website has a section that lists videos on California art.

The Cool School: How LA Learned to Love Modern Art, a documentary film on Los Angeles’s late ‘50s and early ‘60s art scene.  The Ferus modern art gallery was like an earthquake for the California art scene, showcasing a scrappy gang of Venice beats.  Narrated by actor, Jeff Bridges.  Shown to an audience on April 18 at the Forum Theater on the Festival of Arts Grounds, Laguna Beach, sponsored by the Laguna Beach Film Society.

March 11, 2008, 6:30 p.m.  Lori Rusch will speak on Pasadena painter Norman Chamberlain, at the South Pasadena Middle School, 1600 Oak Street, South Pasadena, Ca.  Beginning at the flag pole, a short tour of the art sites will be made.

March 27, 2008, 6:30 p.m.  Patricia Trenton speaks on her new book, Joseph Kleitsch: A Kaleidoscope of Color, at George Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.  Sponsored by the American Art Council of LACMA.

June 21, 2008, after dinner.  Dr. Patricia Trenton speaks on her new book on Joseph Kleitsch to the Historical Collections Council at its annual dinner at the Pacific Club, Newport Beach.

For the websites of the many ‘bricks and mortar’ auction galleries dealing with American paintings, see Publications in California Art, No. 9, newsletter for November 1999.  For the most up-to-date auction prices, see www.askart.com  and www.ArtPrice.com. Auction Galleries that hold special sales of historic California art include Bonhams/Butterfields, which can be viewed at www.bonhams.com; Christies at www.christies.com, and John Moran at www.johnmoran.com.

April 8, 2008.  California and American Paintings and Sculpture, Bonhams & Butterfields, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

May 5, 2008, 2 p.m.  Made in California, Bonhams, Los Angeles.

June 1, 2008.  A. N. Abell Auction Company, Los Angeles, will be selling selected California paintings including works by Donna Schuster, John Frost, and Thomas Moran.

June 24, 2008, 6:30 p.m..  California & American Paintings Auction, John Moran, Pasadena.

August 5, 2008, 6 p.m.  California and American Paintings and Sculpture, Bonhams and Butterfields, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Preview in LA  Aug. 1-3. 

CaliforniaArt.com © copyright 2007 Dustin Publications.