MARCH, APRIL, MAY  2008                                                                                  

This Newsletter contains information on California art and artists prior to c. 1950.  Occasionally included are notices on pre-1950 California architecture, photography, and decorative arts.  All material comes from announcements and magazines that cross Nancy Moure's desk.  Please put her on your mailing list -- nancymoure@earthlink.net.

The Historical Collections Council is a group of collectors, dealers, and scholars interested in learning more about historic California art through visits to private collections, museum shows, and lectures.  Details on membership and events can be found at historicalcollectionscouncil.org.

SCOTT A. SHIELDS, Chief Curator/ Associate Director, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento.

Believe it or not, Scott Shields who, along with Alfred Harrison and Jean Stern, will be speaking at the HCC’s upcoming seminar on March 16 had almost no exposure to fine art until he entered college.

Shields whose well deserved meteoric rise to Chief Curator/Associate Director of the Crocker in a scant ten years, was born in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Both his parents were in education: his mother taught kindergarten while his father, after a number of years running the family farm, became a guidance counselor at a community college.  Scott and his younger brother grew up on the farm. 

Until Shields went to college he had little firsthand experience with art.  No ancestors exhibited creative talents.  He took no high-school art classes and his family made no visits to art museums, although he did have creative hobbies such as polishing rocks and painting ceramics, which could occupy him indoors while confined to the house with asthma.

On entering the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Shields was forced to choose a major.  Like his parents he decided to be a teacher, and he calls it blind naďveté that led him to name art as his subject.  With no previous fine-arts experience, the adeptness of his fellow students awed him.  However he soon made up for lost time and in his last year was named Outstanding Senior Art Student.  Shields’s studies exposed him to all media, but his senior show, held in the art department’s gallery, consisted of his favorite two: watercolor portraits and ceramics.  He preferred representationalism to abstraction.  In the spring of 1991 he received a B.F.A. in Commercial Art/Graphic Design as well as a B. A. in Art Education (K-12), both Summa Cum Laude.

Graduation brought Shields to another crossroad.  Experiences he had in college had expanded his outlook beyond teaching.  He had visited his first museum as a freshman, and throughout his college years made frequent visits to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska and the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.  He spent summers working at the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska, which gave him his first exposure to museum work.  He chuckles when he recalls providing narration to visitors aboard a historic steam locomotive.  Framing artworks was part of U of N’s curriculum, and Shields used that talent helping at the University’s Museum of Nebraska Art.  In addition, he took art history classes, at which he excelled. 

Taking the advice of a favorite teacher, Shields decided to go on for graduate work in art history.  Nearby University of Kansas at Lawrence had a highly respected program and once again luck guided him.  When he was asked, as a prospective student, what field of art history he preferred, he named American Impressionism.  More truthfully he was interested in the general period 1860-1940 in both Europe and America, including painting, drawing and decorative arts. 

How did a Kansas Ph.D. student choose a California art subject for his dissertation?  Just when Shields completed his M. A. (1994 with a GPA of 4.0) he received a NEA internship in American Painting at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.  It lasted 16 months.  The Museum had just opened Facing Eden – 100 Years of Bay Area Landscape and Shields was astounded by the quality of California painting, to which he had no previous exposure except for work by Arthur Mathews, Albert Bierstadt and Richard Diebenkorn.  He was particularly intrigued with Tonalism and with Gottardo Piazzoni.

When Shields returned to U of K to finish his Ph.D. coursework, he began writing on Piazzoni.  But Harvey Jones had already defined Tonalism in a major exhibition/book.  So, Shields finally decided to write on artists of the Monterey Art Colony, many of whom were Tonalists.  Looking back on his choice he realizes that if he had known that Monterey had more than ten artists to consider he would not have taken on the challenge.  As it was he ended up discussing 50 painters.  Under pressure from his committee, he reduced the breadth of his dissertation; even then, it was still twice the size of the exhibition/book that grew out of it.

Once a Ph. D. student completes his course work and exams, he can take a job and has several years to complete the actual writing of his dissertation.  In 1997, Shields applied for and received the position of Curator of Art at the California Historical Society in San Francisco.  In two and a half years there his incredible energy produced exhibits of California Gold Rush Letter Sheets (from the Society’s collection), Interpreting California: History Through the Collections, and California 1900, among others.  In the evenings and on weekends he researched and wrote his dissertation.  He did much of his research at the Bancroft Library at U of C, Berkeley, at the San Francisco Public Library, which has a card index to the San Francisco newspapers, and he made several trips to Monterey.  He received his doctorate in 2004.

How Scott moved to the Crocker is yet another story.  While still at the California Historical Society he was working with Claudine Chalmers on Splendide Californie, a show that opened at the CHS and traveled to the Crocker.  Janice Driesbach had just left her curatorship at the Crocker and Scott applied for the position.  The Crocker, founded in 1885 when Margaret Crocker donated her home and collections, is the oldest museum west of the Mississippi.  Besides excellent 19^th century European and American (including California) holdings, the museum is strong in post-1960s art and ceramics.

Shields has been at the Crocker since November of 2000, racking up an extraordinary record of exhibits, lectures, acquisitions, etc.  When he first arrived, he produced fifteen shows a year by himself; he now has a staff of 3.5 curators.  What he likes is the variety – not only early California but contemporary art and ceramics.  The exhibit that put him on the map for many California collectors was Artists at Continent’s End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875-1907 which was shown at the Laguna Art Museum and three other venues in 2006.  His current blockbuster is Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque which not only documents the artist but resulted in the restoration of many Deakin paintings recently entrusted to the protection of the Crocker.

Shields is also overseeing much of the construction and display in the Crocker’s 125,000 square-foot addition that will be completed in 2010.  Much of this will be devoted to telling the story of California art from the Gold Rush to the present in a large permanent exhibit.  In addition there is a sub dividable 12,000 square foot space for traveling shows and a 2,500 square foot gallery for emerging California artists.  The building also contains a works-on-paper study center, a café, an auditorium, collection storage and curatorial offices.  The historic Italianate building will hold European art, ceramics and crafts, and the Asian collection, as well as the mural-sized Charles Nahls, which the Crockers originally commissioned for the top of the stairs. 

The new building will make the Crocker’s permanent display of California paintings larger even than Oakland’s.  There are still areas of the collection, however, that need development.  The museum collected very little between 1885 and 1960, the main years of historic California painting.  Shields has therefore been actively acquiring work from that time period, as well as conserving paintings that the museum already owns in an effort to ready them for display.  In the past seven years, the Crocker has added 2,000 pieces to its permanent collection, which spans all media and time periods.  It has conserved nearly 100 paintings.  Shields also thinks it is critically important to add more examples by Southern California artists, as the collection has a preponderance of work from the northern part of the state.  An exception is the museum’s Edgar Payne that Shields thanks the HCC for providing conservation funds.  Between now and opening, Shields hopes to obtain by gift many of those artists the collection currently lacks, especially Granville Redmond and William Wendt.

Believe it or not, Shields finds time for a private life.  Some time has been spent helping the Pasadena Museum of California art in its show on Benjamin Brown and an upcoming show on Franz Bischoff, which Jean Stern is curating.  He also collects some of the lesser-known Monterey artists as well as both European and American Art Nouveau ceramics.

Shields looks forward to again meeting HCC members at the March 16 Seminar at the Bowers Museum, The Art of California 1849-1930, where his lecture will be titled, “The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony.”  Also, if you have any suggestions for Southern California paintings for his permanent survey exhibit, please introduce yourself.  He would love to talk to you!

Congratulations to watercolorist Milford Zornes on his 100^th birthday.  A party with wine and hors d’oeuvres was held at the Pasadena Museum of California Art on Saturday January 26, 2008. 

Congratulations also to Robert and Lori DeLapp on the birth of their daughter Sophie on December 5, 2007 – 7 pounds, 12 ounces.  Robert, the son of painter/dealer Terry DeLapp, is a private dealer in California/American art and Lori does costuming for motion picture studios.

Katherine Norris Fine Art of Newport Beach sends a mailer reproducing interesting paintings by Carl Oscar Borg, Edgar Payne and Jack Wilkinson Smith, among others.

Henry Lion’s 7 foot tall, 512 pound, bronze sculpture Forty Niner (Gold Miner) that disappeared from its home in the small triangular park at the corner of San Vicente and McCarthy Vista Drive was located in a scrap yard, cut off at the knees.  It was one of a series of memorials to California’s historical characters commissioned by J. Harvey McCarthy of the Carthay Center Theater in the mid 1920s in conjunction with the Ramona Parlor of the Native Sons of the Golden West.  Although the theater was torn down June 1969, the sculpture remained.  In the full naturalistic tradition of late nineteenth-century American bronzes, it shows a virile young gold miner gazing at the results of his gold panning.  Scavenging for scrap metal has become a destructive epidemic throughout America as sculptures and fire hydrants are carted away, wires are stripped from street lights, and pipes removed from plumbing, etc.  The two, early twenties Latino perpetrators were caught and charged with grand-theft.  They admitted to stealing other sculptures.

Want your favorite California artist researched?  Member John Hazeltine has pointed out a wonderful program sponsored by the Santa Barbara art gallery Sullivan Goss.  Now eight years old, it offers stipends for art research to college interns.  Details are at www.sullivangoss.com/internships/internships.asp.  The goal is to create biographies for American artists on whom no monograph has been written.  Results are retained in a binder at the gallery.  The gallery is interested in adding to its list of potential biographies, those artists suggested by HCC members.  If you have a candidate, please communicate directly with Sullivan Goss.

The art galleries of the Oakland Museum of California will close January 2, 2008 and will re-open in late 2009 completely transformed.  To celebrate its 40^th anniversary the Museum is renovating and reinstalling its Art and History Galleries, part of an overall $53 million capital project.  The Art Gallery will gain 4000 square feet and will feature an Eyes-on Art Discovery Center for hands-on-, in-depth learning, and thematic installations that provide figurative new “points of entry” for visitors to explore and understand California art history.  Individual galleries will showcase the collection’s strengths, including Arts & Crafts, self-taught artists, and the work of such artists as Richard Diebenkorn, Dorothea Lange, and Peter Voulkos.  In addition, the expanded gallery space will allow increased presentation of contemporary art, including large-scale installation works and media-based art.  (from the website news release)  While the galleries are closed, the museum has mounted “Art and History of Early California” which will run from December 1, 2007 to Summer 2009.

The California Art Club, which has been a leader in the Southern California art world since 1909, not only fosters artistic representations of California’s landscape but acts to preserve from development some of those sites.  One of its major interests is the Arroyo Seco, the valley that runs from the foothills past Pasadena and into Los Angeles.  Its beautiful sycamores, stream and boulders have long been an inspiration to local artists.  Partnering with the Arroyo Seco Foundation, the CAC hopes to achieve a center on the banks of the Arroyo where the art and nature of Southern California can be celebrated.  Some progress has been made: revitalization plans for the Arroyo and the related LA river are unfolding; the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has initiated an Arroyo Seco Ecosystem Study that will hopefully soften the cement channel that destroyed the picturesque streambed; and there is a project to restore health to the stream itself.  For more information or to contribute to this effort see arroyoseco.org.  

The American Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art took a day trip to Palm Desert and Palm Springs.  They viewed the Western art collection of Annette and Bill Smith then went on to Edenhurst Galleries where Patricia Trenton signed copies of her new book Joseph Kleitsch: A Kaleidoscope of Colors.  After lunch at Augusta Restaurant they visited the home and Western art collection of Diane and Sam Stuart.

This past January the 13^th annual Los Angeles Art Show was joined with the 23^rd annual Los Angeles Fine Print Fair to make a huge showing of art and to raise money for the Art Museum Council and the Prints and Drawings Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This past year the California Art Council of the Bowers Museum has provided monies to restore 18 of the museum’s California paintings on view in the Mary Muth Gallery.  More are scheduled.  In addition the Council is funding the restoration of the museum’s collection of Frank Coburn paintings with the goal of creating an exhibit at an Orange County location.  Thanks to this Council’s actions the Bowers’ Museum’s rich holdings of historic California art can now be seen and appreciated.

The Laguna Art Museum, now entering its 90^th year, has recently replaced the carpeting in two of its galleries with bamboo flooring.  This is the first major renovation in twenty years and growing pains are urging administrators to take even greater steps.  The Museum’s Member’s Magazine 2007-2008 discusses ideas to expand the museum  to provide more space for use of archives and library, space for educational activities, space to hang a permanent historical survey of California art, and upgrades to facilities including air quality and security.  The Museum is currently formulating a long-range plan to raise money with the goal of becoming a premier showcase and center of scholarship for California art.  The Museum has also redesigned its website LagunaArtMuseum.org.

The Western Art Council of the Palm Springs Museum of Art attended the opening of the Sam Hyde Harris show at the Edenhurst Gallery in Palm Desert on February 16^th.  Maurine St. Gaudens signed copies of her monograph on Harris and 10% of that evening’s sales were donated to the Council.

Rancho Dos Palmas, part time home to desert painter John W. Hilton in the 1930s, has been officially saved from demolition by the BLM.  At the January meeting of the Riverside County Parks & Open Spaces District’s Historical Commission, an application submitted by the East Valley Historical Society to preserve the structure was approved and forwarded to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors for their approval before being sent to the California State Office of Historic Preservation.  Rancho Dos Palmas is located on a 22,000 acre property overseen by the Federal Bureau of Land Management which let the original adobe and wood frame ranch house fall into disrepair.

San Diego currently has on view three important exhibits of historic California paintings.  Worth a trip!!!

• 100 Years of Art in San Diego: A Retrospective, San Diego Historical Society, through March 2009.

• Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950, Oceanside Museum of Art, March 2 – June 29, 2008.

• Plein Air Past and Present: A Collaboration Between SDMA and the Lux Art Institute, San Diego Museum of Art, February 2 – April 27, 2008. 

There will soon be an interactive website showing extant works produced with public funds during the 1930s and early 1940s.  The “Living New Deal Project” is headed by the California Historical Society and U. C. Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Library.  They are engaging people throughout California to re-discover and document the physical remains of California’s New Deal projects, including WPA, CCC, PWA, and CWA.  Findings will be built into a database.  Also resulting from the research will be a large-format book and a state-wide traveling exhibition and public programs. 

Milford Zornes, watercolorist died of congestive heart failure on February 24, approximately one month after he turned 100.  Born in Oklahoma on January 25, 1908 and graduated from Pomona College in 1934, Zornes was a prominent member of those California watercolor artists who rose to national prominence in the 1930s.  Highlights of the prolific artist’s career include serving as president of the California Water Color Society and having his painting, Old Adobe, selected by President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt to hang in the White House.  Many museums and private collectors own examples of his art.  While Zornes’ vision had been crippled by twenty years of macular degeneration, he still painted nearly every day relying on his memories and sketchbooks.  As he explained in a recent profile in Pomona College Magazine (Sneha Abraham, “A Conversation with Nature,” Pomona College Magazine, v. 44, no. 2, Winter 08 – online) ‘[Blindness means] allowing myself the freedom of not necessarily being accurate to the subject but being accurate to my feeling about the subject.”  Recent exhibitions at Riverside Art Museum and Pasadena Museum of California Art document his oeuvre.  (generally from an obituary on the Pomona College website)  See “Books” below for Gordon McClelland’s recent biography of Zornes.  No services will be held as Zornes family considers his 100^th birthday party the perfect ending to a life well lived.

“Q” Siebenthal, art photographer and owner of American Photo Repro died shortly before July 14, 2007.  Marque “Q” Siebenthal (AKA Mark K. Zultz) created excellent transparencies for most of LA’s numerous galleries and collectors.  Born July 30, 1952 in Tucson, Arizona, Q spent his early years working as a messenger in San Francisco and at NBC, Burbank.  For many years he was a member of the Fools Guild, an organization of individuals who identify with the artistic, spiritual or philosophical nature of The Fool.  They met three times a year – on Halloween, New Year’s Eve and the High Feast of April Fools Day, for unadulterated silliness.  For 25 years he performed at the Renaissance Fair and in 1983-84 served as King.  Siebenthal also liked to hike in the wilderness.

Ed Boseker, collector, died January 27, 2008.  Boseker was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1936.  He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Science in Geology and attended medical school at Indiana University where he met his wife, Yvonne, who was in nursing school at the time.  After residency in Rochester, Minnesota, in 1967 the couple moved to Southern California where Ed opened a private practice in Newport Beach.  In 1972 the family moved home and business to Santa Ana.  More recently the Bosekers purchased a vacation home in Laguna Beach on the edge of the cliffs.  Ed was a kind and loving father who graciously tolerated his four daughters’ Barbies, dollies, make-up, loud music, mood swings, and boyfriends.  The family spent weekends at their ranch in Temecula where he loved to farm oat hay and taught his daughters to plow.  Every summer they went on a twelve-day motor home trip to see a new part of the country.  Ed’s interest in the Boy Scouts of America led to his endowing the Inland Empire Boy Scouts who often camped on his ranch.  The Boseker Scout Reservation at Camp Emerson and Camp Brown near Idyllwild carries his name.  He enjoyed model trains and served nine years on the Tustin school board.  The art community best knows both Ed and Yvonne for their wonderful collection of California paintings which they generously opened to numerous groups (see past issues of the HCC Newsletter) and also for the paintings they lent to exhibitions and the financial support they gave to catalogues.  In April 2005 Ed joined the board of the Laguna Art Museum and was co-chair of the Historical Art Council.  Several articles have been written on the Boseker’s collection including “Art Collectors’ Profiles,” in Antiques and Fine Art, August 1987.  (partially extracted from published obituaries)

Reuben Lucero, restorer, died of heart failure on February 3, 2008.   A profile on Lucero appears in Publications in California Art No. 9.  The following was extracted from the very heartfelt and moving tribute composed by Eric and Crystin Sedman that was delivered at his funeral.  [The Editor’s apologies for not having space to re-print the entire four pages; extracting only the facts destroys the loving tone.]

On this very sad day I am speaking on behalf of myself and my wife Crystin when we offer our deepest condolences to Helga and Diane and to his immediate and extended family.  He died too young.  Ruben would have turned 65 on February 19^th and today, February 8^th, is Helga and Reuben’s 39^th wedding anniversary.  There are many ways to describe Reuben – the loving husband, devoted father, and wonderful son.  There was Reuben the scholarly man, successful individual, avid art collector, gifted conservator of paintings, and trusted friend.  Crystin and I knew him for nearly 20 years.  He was a reserved man, but once we got to know him we found him engaging, funny, wise, a man with good taste, and extremely honest and caring.  He took a genuine interest in our lives and hobbies and always listened with great interest.  He was never boastful of his own accomplishments.  In his mid twenties Reuben met Helga, a young beauty who had traveled to California from Germany on vacation.  Reuben owned a motorcycle and Helga, who was obviously adventurous, trusted him to take her for a spin.  Helga’s vacation became permanent as she and Reuben married.  About four years later their daughter Diane was born.  One can’t think about Reuben without picturing Helga next to him with her high energy and unwavering stability and devotion.  He loved and admired his daughter Diane with her beauty, graceful manner and commitment to higher learning.  Reuben also loved paintings and had a personal preference for collecting nineteenth century art.  He also enjoyed listening to music, reading, occasionally watching television, and, of course, fine dining.  For years he managed to avoid all the new technology and was just getting accustomed to relying on a cell phone, using a computer and browsing the Internet.  One of the most remarkable qualities about Reuben was the respect and camaraderie he had towards the art dealers, collectors and auction houses with whom he dealt.  He did not possess a competitive spirit and never had a bad word to say about anyone.  He was private about the paintings he worked on and was a brilliant restorer.  Reuben also had a sensitive side.  One day I received a phone call and he was in tears.  He had witnessed their beloved cat Rusty being torn apart by coyotes in their front yard.  Later that same day, grieving, still in shock, the family heard a faint meow.  They thought it was Rusty’s spirit.  When they looked outside there was Rusty, alive.  The unfortunate victim had been a neighbor’s cat.  Last Sunday I was thinking about Reuben and Helga, so early in the afternoon I picked up the phone and called.  Reuben mentioned he had come down with a cold and that he was getting plenty of fluids and rest.  I never thought for one minute that would be the last time I would ever speak to him.  It is all so hard to believe.  He touched all of our lives with his steadfastness, his wit, his caring attention, his unforgettable talent and reliable honesty.  The paintings that he restored live on as a testament to his great gift.  We will all go forward having garnered inspiration from him, his love of life and art, knowing he lived it and appreciated it to the fullest.

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.

·          Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah – permanent display of Grace Hudson’s studio as well as changing exhibitions

·          Shasta State Historic Park, Redding, Ca. – permanent display of selected works from the Boggs Collection

·          Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa, Ca. – artworks on display in gallery of Sonoma County history +

·          California State Capitol Museum, Sacramento, Ca. – portraits and murals on view throughout the capitol

·          California State Library Foundation, Sacramento, Ca. – murals and art decorating the library, posters for sale, special exhibits

·          Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento – permanent display of nineteenth century California paintings as well as occasional special exhibitions of California art.

·          Haggin Museum, Stockton – permanent display of nineteenth century California paintings

·          Oakland Museum of California, Oakland – survey of Northern California painting from the mid-nineteenth century to the present plus some examples by Southern California artists.  Frequent temporary exhibitions of California art.

·          California Historical Society, San Francisco – fine art included in changing historical displays

·          Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco – permanent collection and changing exhibits

·          Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey – two complexes both having long- and short-term exhibitions of California art; excellent display of the work of Armin Hansen and Jules Tavernier as well as photographs

·          Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara – one gallery devoted to changing exhibitions of California art.

·          Santa Barbara Historical Society – permanent display of Santa Barbara art as well as frequent special exhibitions

·          Beatrice Wood Studio, Ojai -- permanent display of Beatrice Wood lusterware, ceramic tiles and figurative ceramics.

·          Autry National Center, California Historical Society Gallery, L. A. – paintings and costumes from the California Historical Society and its own collections as well as special exhibitions

·          Los Angeles County Museum of Art – paintings by California artists are included in the American Art galleries.

·          Hollywood Entertainment Museum, Hollywood – changing exhibits relating to motion pictures (actors, photographers, animation, poster artists, etc.)

·          Pasadena Museum of California Art – changing exhibits of California art

·          Fenyes Mansion and Pasadena Museum of History – permanent exhibit of the Fenyes collection and changing exhibits in the Museum

·          Society of Motion Picture Arts and Design, Beverly Hills – exhibits related to film artists and costume designers

·          Corita Art Center, Immaculate Heart College, L. A. – serigraphs by Sister Corita Kent, active after World War II

·          California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica – permanent collection of California’s historic furniture, tiles, decorative arts.

·          Japanese-American National Museum – changing exhibits of Japanese and Japanese –American artists

·          Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles – changing exhibitions of historic and modern Chinese-American artists.

·          Long Beach Museum of Art – one upstairs gallery devoted to California Impressionism; another to modernism and ceramics.

·          Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, Ca. – devoted to artists active in Claremont.

·          Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs – small gallery contains California art; occasional special exhibitions of California art

·          Chaffey Community Art Association, Rancho Cucamonga – Barbara Line Memorial collection of California artists

·          Bowers Museum, Santa Ana – permanent and changing exhibits of historic California art

·          Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach – survey of California art with an emphasis on art after 1945.  Temporary exhibitions of California art.

·          Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach – changing exhibitions of all phases of California art.

·          Irvine Museum, Irvine – changing shows of California Impressionism, 1890-1940.

·          San Diego Historical Society – occasional special exhibitions of California art with special reference to San Diego

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

Through January 5, 2008.  Imogen Cunningham and Rondal Partridge, Paired, East/West Gallery, Santa Barbara, Ca.

Through April 6, 2008.  William Keith: The 1890s Paintings, Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary’s College, Moraga.  In the 1890s Keith’s art transitioned from journalistic reporting to spiritual expression influenced by the style of the French Barbizon painters, his friendship with East Coast Tonalist George Inness, and the teachings of Swedenborgianism.  Sunny panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada give way to darkly-hued forest glades at sunset.  In Keith’s own words, “What a landscape painter wants to render is not the natural landscape but the state of feeling which the landscape produces in himself.”

January/February, 2008.  The Allure of the Exotic, Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, L. A.  Features California artists Henry Alexander, Ralph Blakelock, Ben Carre, John Hubbard Rich, Charles Dormon Robinson, Joseph Henry Sharp, and Tyrus Wong, among others.

January 3 – February 24, 2008.  William Saroyan Art Exhibition, Tulare Historical Museum, Tulare, Ca.  The famous novelist also produced sensitive drawings.

January 8 – June 29, 2008.  Lights! Camera! Glamour!  The Photography of George Hurrell, California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica.  As studio photographer for MGM, Warner Brothers and Columbia, Hurrell shot some of the world’s most beautiful and intriguing personalities creating the template for the Hollywood glamour portrait.  His flawless photography was instrumental in shaping the images of stars.  The exhibition includes more than eighty photographs showing stars from Jean Harlow and Clark Gable to Joan Collins and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  It also features a replica of Hurrell’s studio with his camera, boom light, and hand-painted screen.  Also included is a room of nude portraits, many of which are shown for the first time.  (See the website for the Santa Monica Public Library for dates of a related lecture and film series.)

January 12 – March 15, 2008.  Important Paintings by Early California Artists, George Stern Fine Arts, L.A.

January 12 – March 29, 2008.  Paper Passion 2008, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, L. A.  Highlights from the gallery’s most recent catalogue of works on paper, including art by Leonard Edmondson, Jules Engel, Ruth Asawa, Ynez Johnston, Helen Lundeberg, Lee Mullican, Emerson Woelffer, and others.

January 12 – April 30, 2008.  Sam Hyde Harris: Sunlight & Shadow, A Retrospective, Edenhurst Gallery, Palm Desert.   The gallery will produce a brochure on Harris, but in addition the opening will include a book signing by Maurine St. Gaudens of her monograph on Harris.  Works from the Harris estate.

January 13 – March 30, 2008.  Members Collect III, Wildling Art Museum, Los Olivos.  Curated by Alissa Anderson.  Anderson has selected representational artworks with a modern flair by such California artists as Fernand Lungren, Edgar Payne, Carl Sammons, Ludmilla Welch, James Swinnerton, Channing Peake, Milford Zornes, Ray Strong and Millard Sheets, among others.  Most of the images were created during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.  The show is accompanied by a catalogue.

January 19, 2008 +.  Natzler Memorial Exhibition, Couturier Gallery, L. A.  Works by ceramist collaborators Gertrud and Otto Natzler.

January 22 – March 29, 2008.  Milford Zornes: An American Artist, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, Ca.  Curated by Gordon McClelland in honor of Zornes 100^th birthday.   (See “Books” below.)

January 23 – August 29, 2008.  The Streets of San Francisco, Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco.  Incorporates maps, photographs, prints and artifacts that show San Francisco’s transformation from mission outpost to metropolis, how streets were laid out and named.

January 26 – February 24, 2008.  100 Years of Milford Zornes, Pasadena Museum of California Art.  A survey of watercolors.

January 26 – March 1, 2008.  Milford Zornes, his 100^th birthday, San Marino Gallery, 70 North Raymond Ave., Old Town Pasadena.

January 27 – April 27, 2008.  First Generation: Art in Claremont, 1907 – 1957, Claremont Museum of Art.  Since the late 19^th century, prominent artists have been among those attracted to the city of Claremont.  Whether it was the allure of Mt. Baldy and its surrounding peaks and chaparral, or the opportunities provided by the schools and college, a large number of distinguished visual artists settled there.  This show traces the art history of the region from such artists as Hannah Tempest Jenkins, Emil Kosa, Jr. and William Manker to Millard Sheets and his circle in the 1930s.  It also deals with the influence of Sheets-hired artists Henry Lee McFee, Phil Dike and Jean Ames.

January 28 – April 12, 2008.  Art of Motion Picture Costume Design, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles.

February 2 – April 27, 2008.  Plein Air Past and Present: A Collaboration Between SDMA and the Lux Art Institute, San Diego Museum of Art.  Features 20 California plein-air paintings from the SDMA’s permanent collection by such artists as Charles Fries, Alfred Mitchell, Maurice Braun, and Charles Reiffel augmented by loans from local collections.  The Lux Art Institute opened in Encinitas on the banks of the San Elijo Lagoon in November 2007; it offers artist-in-residence programs.

February 2 – May 4, 2008.  Debating Modern Photography: The Triumph of Group f/64, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson.  The f/64 group was active in the Bay Area.

February 2 – June 14, 2008.  Bunker Hill by Leo Politi, Los Angeles Public Library, L. A.  Celebrates the 100^th anniversary of the artist’s birth.  Award-winning artist and illustrator Leo Politi depicts Bunker Hill’s homes as they appeared at the turn of the twentieth century.  He first celebrated the neighborhood in his 1964 book, “Bunker Hill, Los Angeles,” and followed with four more.  This once exclusive residential section of Victorian houses has now been replaced by office and residential skyscrapers and museums.

February 2 – August 11, 2008.  The Language of Lines: How Cartoonists Communicate, Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa.  Examines the visual iconography of emotion such as speed lines, sweat drops, footprints, dotted eyesight lines, sound effects and thought balloons that communicate human emotions and abstract ideas.   On view will be cartoons from Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Pogo, Mutts, and Pearls Before Swine.

February 22 – June 1, 2008.  Obata’s Yosemite, Smithsonian American Art Museum (National Museum of American Art), Washington, D. C.  watercolors and woodblock prints of Yosemite.  A book by the same name exists.

February 23 – March 22, 2008.  Urban LA & the Allure of Southern California, Segil Fine Art Source, Monrovia.  Features a retrospective of the work of Ben Abril.  Segil is located at 110 West Lime Ave in Old Town Monrovia.  See www.SegilFineArt.com.

February 27 – March 29, 2008.  California Society of Six: Origins of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco.

March and April, 2008.  California Style Watercolors, Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery.  For mini-catalogue see its website: www.bbhgallery.com the Monthly for March 2008.

March 2 – June 29, 2008.  Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950, Oceanside Museum of Art.  This exhibition opens the museum’s new 16,000 sq. ft. Central Pavilion designed by Frederick Fisher.  The show, which features some of San Diego’s most outstanding pre-1950 artists, such as Maurice Braun, Charles Fries, Charles Reiffel, Belle Baranceanu and Ethel Greene, brings to focus the museum’s mission to promote and foster the appreciation and understanding of regional art.  Curated by Bram Dijkstra and Catherine Gleason, the show is accompanied by a catalogue.  (See “Books” below.)

March 3 – April 20, 2008.  Corita Kent, University of San Francisco, Thacher Gallery.   The LA based Corita Art Center on the grounds of Immaculate Heart High School creates traveling exhibitions of Kent’s work.

March 8 – May 31, 2008.  California Art 1880-1960: 32^nd Annual Exhibition, Kerwin Galleries, Burlingame, Ca. 

March 15 – June 8, 2008.  California Video, Getty Museum.  “The first comprehensive survey of California video art from 1968 to the present, this exhibition includes important examples of single-channel video, video sculpture, and video installation.  Featuring the work of fifty-eight artists, duos, and collectives, California Video locates a distinctively West Coast aesthetic within the broader history of video art while highlighting the Getty’s major commitment to the preservation and exhibition of a young but vital artistic medium.  This exhibition is co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum.” (from the website)

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

March 22 -August 3, 2008.  Yosemite: Art of an American Icon, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art, Indianapolis.  Yosemite’s changing image and impact as a cultural phenomenon through the eyes of artists.  From Native basket weavers to landscape greats Thomas Hill and William Keith and contemporary artists and photographers, Yosemite’s 300-year transition from remote haven to national destination is captured in more than 150 artworks.  Travels from the Autry National Center in L. A.

March 22 – August 23, 2008.  Abundance of Color: California Flowers in Art, Irvine Museum.   Selected California plein air paintings of flowers.

May-June, 2008.  California Paintings: San Francisco and North, Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery.

May 3 – June 22, 2008.  You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Art Faculty, Hearst Art Gallery at St. Mary’s College, Moraga.  In the 1960s, UC Davis art department produced cutting edge art.

May 19 – July 3, 2008.  Aesthetic Bohemians and Craftsmen: Artistic Dress 1880s-1920s, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles.

May 21 – 31, 2008.  Bird’s Eye Views of California, Capitol Museum, Sacramento.  From the collection of the California State Library.  Before Google Earth TM, Californians relied on the imagination and skill of artists to depict elevated views.  This show presents 150 years of urban portraits capturing the growth of California’s towns and cities beginning with Native American villages.  Many of the works are lithographs, a medium that made art inexpensive and accessible to the masses.

May 24 – September 14, 2008.  D. J. Hall Thirty-Five Years Retrospective, Palm Springs Art Museum.  Second generation California photorealist active from the early 1970s, Hall is known for her poolside subjects and glamorous women.

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. 

Will South, Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick, and Julia Armstrong-Totten, A Seed of Modernism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906-1953, Pasadena: Pasadena Museum of California Art and Heyday Books, 2008.  149 pps., many color reproductions.

Gordon McClelland, Milford Zornes: An American Artist, Santa Ana: Hillcrest Press, 2008.  128 pp., full color.  Catalogue for the exhibitions at Riverside Art Museum and Pasadena Museum of California Art.  Includes detailed illustrated chronology.

Patricia Trenton, Joseph Kleitsch: A Kaleidoscope of Color, Irvine, Ca.: Irvine Museum, 2008.  First monograph on this important artist.  Many color reproductions.

Bram Dijkstra, Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950, Oceanside Museum of Art, 2008.  136 pp., c. 60 color reproductions.   Partially supported with monies from the HCC!!!!

Benjamin Chambers Brown, 1865-1942: California Colors, Pasadena: Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2007.  66 pp., 32 illus.

Maynard Dixon: Masterpieces from Brigham Young University & Private Collections, Pasadena: Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2007.  78 pp., 46 col. Illus.

Cecile Whiting, Pop L. A.: Art and the City in the 1960s, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2006.  268 pp., 20 color illus.

Pintores de Aztlan: Frank Romero, Carlos Almaraz, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Chaz Bojorquez, John Valadez, Adan Hernandez, Patssi Valdez, George Yepes, David Flury, Madrid: La Casa Encendida, 2007.  216 pp., 71 col. Illus.  Bilingual.  Latino artists emerging in the 1960s.

Elizabeth Armstrong, et al., Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Midcentury, Newport Beach, Orange County Museum of Art, 2007.  304 pp., with 287 illus.

The Furniture of Charles & Ray Eames (revised edition), Berlin: Vitra Design Museum, 2007.  220 pp. 

A Conversation with Color: Karl Benjamin – Paintings, 1953-1995, Claremont, Ca.: Claremont Museum of Art, 2007.  48 pp., 27 illus.  Hard edge abstraction.

Paul D. Schweizer and Melinda Young Stuart, Ferdinand Richardt: Drawings of America, 1855-1859, Utica, N. Y.: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, 2007.  40 pp., 68 col. Illus.  Richardt settled in San Francisco in 1875 and died in Oakland.

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny, Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area, Layton, Ut.: Gibbs-Smith, 200?.

Dave Weinstein, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area, Layton, Ut.: Gibbs-Smith, 200?

Michael F. Crowe, Robert F. Bowen, San Francisco Art Deco, San Francisco, Ca.: Arcadia, 2007.  128 pps.  Chiefly reproductions of historic photographs.

Kent Seavey, Carmel: History in Architecture, San Francisco, Ca.: Arcadia, 2007.  128 pp.  Chiefly reproductions of historic photographs.

Jerry Thompson, Duane Deterville, Black Artists in Oakland, San Francisco, Ca.: Arcadia, 2007.  128 pp.  Over 200 historic photographs showing activities in the second half of the twentieth century.

Stephen Smoke, Palos Verdes Peninsula Artists, Torrance, Ca.: MS Publishing, 2005.  Hard cover. 

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

Scott A. Shields, “Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque,” American Art Review, v. XX, No. 1, January-February 2008, pp. 74-81.

Julianne Burton-Carvajal, “The Carmel Mission in Art,” American Art Review, v. XX, No. 1, January-February 2008, pp. 82-89.

Gordon McClelland and Austin McClelland, “Milford Zornes: An American Artist,” American Art Review, v. XX, No. 1, January-February 2008, pp. 140-47.

William Perrine, “Dan Dickey: Mid-Century San Diego Artist,” Journal of San Diego History, v. 53, no. 4, Fall 2007, pp. 219+.  (Article also appears on line at www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/journal.htm.)

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

December 2, 2007, 2 p.m.  Kathleen Peck lectures on Grace Nicholson: Pasadena’s Merchant Princess, at the Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena.

January 25, 2008, 6-9 p.m.  Dr. Patricia Trenton signed copies of her new book, Joseph Kleitsch, A Kaleidoscope of Color, published by the Irvine Museum at the Edenhurst Gallery, Palm Desert.

February 7, 2008, 5:30 p.m.  Marlene R. Miller spoke on Counterfeit Boreins: Fakes, Forgeries and Restrikes at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.  Miller’s information comes from her own 25 year experience evaluating Borein’s works and the files of the late author/dealer Harold G. Davidson.

February 9, 2008, 2-3 p.m., Julia Armstrong-Totten and Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick, gave a curator’s walk through for A Seed of Modernism, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena.

March 1, 2008, 3 p.m.  Judy Wright talked on The Way We Were, Claremont Museum of Art.  This lecture took listeners back to a Claremont that inspired artists who are featured in the exhibition First Generation: Art in Claremont, 1907-1957.

March 2, 2008, 1-4 p.m.  Open house for Masterpieces of San Diego Painting at the Oceanside Museum of Art.  This will introduce the exhibition and celebrate the museum’s new Central Pavilion designed by modernist architect Frederick Fisher.

March 15, 2008, 3-4 p.m..  Panel discussion: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena.  Panelists to be announced.

March 15, 2008, 3 p.m.  John Edward Svenson discusses Albert Stewart, Claremont Museum of Art.  Sculptor John Edward Svenson whose works are included in the exhibition First Generation: Art in Claremont 1907-1957, shares stories about his mentor and close friend, celebrated sculptor Albert Stewart, who taught sculpture at Scripps College for 25 years.

March 16, 2008, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  The Art of California, 1849-1930, a seminar sponsored by the Historical Collections Council of California Art, an affiliate of The Irvine Museum, and the California Arts Council of the Bowers Museum, will be held at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana.  Among the lecturers are Scott Shields, Chief Curator at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Alfred Harrison, owner of North Point Gallery in San Francisco, and Jean Stern, Executive Director of the Irvine Museum.  Cost (which includes lunch at Tangata/Pantina): $125/person payable to Historical Collections Council at 12 Smithcliffs Road, Laguna Beach, Ca. 92651.  For more information telephone 949-494-1164.  (Biographies of speakers: for Scott Shields, see beginning of this Newsletter; for Alfred Harrison, see May 2005 Newsletter or Publications in California Art No. 9; for Jean Stern, see March 2007 Newsletter.)

April 5, 2008, 3 p.m.  James Hueter discusses Henry Lee McFee, Claremont Museum of Art.  Artist James Hueter shares stories and discusses his former teacher, pioneer American Cubist Henry Lee McFee who taught at Claremont College and Chouinard Art Institute from the late 1920s.

April 10, 2008, 7-9 p.m.  Bram Dijkstra will speak on Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950 at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

April 12, 2008, 3 p.m.  Harrison and Marguerite McIntosh discuss Jean and Arthur Ames, Claremont Museum of Art.  Harrison McIntosh, internationally renowned ceramist, and his wife, Marguerite McIntosh, founder of the Claremont Museum of Art, share their personal recollections of their former neighbors in Padua Hills, artists Jean and Arthur Ames, celebrated for their work – both individually and collaboratively -  in glazed tile, glass mosaic, and enamel.

April 26, 2008, 3 p.m.  E. Gene Crain discusses several artists in First Generation: Art in Claremont 1907-1957, Claremont Museum of Art.  E. Gene Crain, collector and friend to many of Claremont’s first generation artists, shares stories about Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, and others and discusses the history of his collection, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of work by artists of the “California School” of watercolor.

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.

March 18, 2008.  California & American Art, Matthew’s Galleries, Lake Oswego, Oregon.  See www.matthewsgalleries.com. 

April 30, 2008, 6 p.m.  California, Western and American Painting, Drawing and Sculpture, Christies, Beverly Hills.