Archives

June, July, August 2010

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 an organization for 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 www.historicalcollectionscouncil.org.

 May 15, 2010, 4-7 p.m.  Private Reception for The Art & Life of Edwin Roscoe Shrader (1878-1960), George Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.   Reception with food and wine was open only to members of the Historical Collections Council (associated with The Irvine Museum), the American Art Council (of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the Historical Art Council (of the Laguna Art Museum).

 May 20-23, 2010.  Trip to Denver, Colorado.  On one fully packed weekend, thirty-five lucky HCC members were allowed access to three magnificent private collections of Western art and were given a personal tour of several of the western galleries at the Denver Art Museum.  Peter Hassrick, the Denver Art Museum’s Director for the Petrie Institute of Western American Art and a leading scholar in Western art made the visit possible.  The private collections included that of Philip Anschutz, the Thomas Petrie (Chairman of BankAmerica Merrill Lynch) Collection of Charles M. Russell, and the Henry Roath collection of Taos and Santa Fe art.  Accommodations were at the historic and celebrated Brown Palace Hotel in the center of Denver.

 Future

Saturday, June 12, 2010, 6 p.m.  Annual Meeting and Dinner, The Pacific Club, 4110 MacArthur Boulevard, Newport Beach, Ca.  Reception begins at 6 p.m., dinner at 7.  Choice of filet of beef with either ravioli or halibut with morel mushrooms.  Presentation by Susan M. Anderson, who has authored a long list of publications on California art.  

 The Oakland Museum of California re-opened May 1 with a 31-hour event to celebrate the major renovation of its Art and History galleries.  Outside, the structure has changed only in the addition of a gleaming new stainless steel canopy at the Oak Street entrance.  Inside, upgrades have been made to lighting and data cables for interactive and multimedia experience and there is also a new approach to hanging - mixing art, history and science in the same space.  For a map of the re-configured galleries see the museum’s website, www.museumca.org .  This shows three large spaces devoted respectively to California Land, People, and Creativity (modernism) as well as two galleries for changing exhibitions and a gallery devoted to the turn-of-the-20^th Century Arts and Crafts Movement.  This thematic approach is decidedly different from the previous chronological look at California art, and it will be interesting to see whether it appeals to art specialists as well as the lay person to whom it is apparently scaled.  Labels are in Chinese, Spanish and English.  Currently, in one of the two open spaces devoted to 3-4 month changing exhibits, there is a show of the work of Mine Okubo, a former Bay Area resident who created art while in a World War II U. S. internment camp.  The section titled “California People” is devoted to photographer Dorothea Lange, whose extensive archives the museum owns.  The museum’s goal is to engage visitors through interactive displays.  For example, on a giant touch screen viewers can see videos and images of California’s Outsider/Folk art environments, such as Watts Towers and Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village, without having to travel to the widely separated spots in the state.  As people view rock posters and other art of the 1960s they will also hear rock music and Beat poets reciting.  (from various publications issued by the Oakland Museum and its website)

 Steve Hauk’s drama of Monterey artist E. Charlton Fortune debuted at the Carmel Mission in conjunction with an exhibit of Fortune’s liturgical art.   Fortune earned an international reputation for her Impressionistic painting, but in mid-life turned to liturgical art for the Catholic Church.  The Monterey Guild commissioned more than fifty church and cathedral artworks across the country from her.   “Fortune’s Way, or Notes on Art for Catholics (and Others)” consists of Teresa del Piero in the roll of Fortune about 1940 giving a slide lecture of 45 images.  John Brady plays Bishop Edwin O’Hara.  The play was staged by Conrad Selvig.  It was performed Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Crespi Hall.  Hauk, Catholic-raised and owner of Hauk Fine Arts in Pacific Grove, is the author of two videos on art of the Monterey Peninsula and several articles on writer John Steinbeck.  Hauk also authored the play, The Floating Hat, which concerns the relationship between actor Charlie Chaplin and painter Granville Redmond.

 Edenhurst Gallery, Palm Desert, announces the arrival of top quality new canvases by William A. Griffith, Marion K. Wachtel, Jessie Arms Botke, Alfred Mitchell, George D. Otis, J. Christopher Smith, Phil Paradise, Will Foster, Harry Raymond Henry and James Swinnerton.  In another email they list Rinaldo Cuneo, Hanson Puthuff, Ila Mae McAfee, Pruett Carter, George Spangenberg, and Alfred Mitchell.  To view these works see www.EdenhurstGallery.com.

 New websites that will be of great interest to HCC members are www.californiaregionalistart.com and www.californiadesertart.com.  The first belongs to a club for collectors of California Style watercolors which, like the HCC, supports exhibitions at museums and holds special educational events on the subject.  The second appears to be the special interest of an individual who has met and interviewed some of the desert’s early artists.  Early California Cartoonists are discussed on a website: http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2009/07/early-california-cartoonists.html .  Check them out.

 The “Galleries” section of www.Californiaart.com has been revised so that all website names now connect with the Internet and some sites have been removed and others added.

 The DVD Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman, is now available through Organa films at http://organa.com/ .  Biberman’s 1920s-1960s modernism is not quantifiable, but the artist blended realism with Deco simplicity and, in some cases, social comment.  This video keeps your attention and includes a lot of information on early Hollywood in whose social circle Biberman moved.

 Gary Breitweiser/Studio 2 in Santa Barbara, literally the first dealer to offer a substantial number of historic Southern California paintings for sale in the early 1970s, has moved to a new location 434B E. Haley St., facing Olive.  The jumble of art/books/sculptures that accumulated over 14 years in his previous location have now been organized on shelves/racks and Gary invites collectors to make an appointment  (805-268-2033) or, if you want to take the chance, stop by to see if he is open.  He has HUNDREDS of artworks.  Gary is a rare individual in that he is a “dealer” who actually knew many of the artists personally including Phil Paradise, Doug Parshall, Joe Knowles and many others, and he loves to talk about them.  He owns archives on many artists that would stun some special collections librarians, and owns a major collection of etchings/lithos/engravings.  Gary is literally a Santa Barbara institution.

 The Claremont Museum of Art, which had such a promising start displaying and collecting art of the Inland Empire, where so many artists were active and had their starts, has apparently suffered financial woes and lost its museum space.  It has put its permanent collection in storage and will continue its mission, for the immediate future, through on-line activities.  Keep up to date by checking out www.claremontmuseum.org.

 The Josh Hardy Galleries Quarterly for April 1, 2010 features an article on Maurice Logan, San Francisco watercolorist/commercial artist and reproduces 21+ images of paintings in its inventory.  For more information see www.hardygalleries.com.   A recent email announces the acquisition of works by Maurice Logan, Armin Hansen, Sam Hyde Harris, Granville Redmond, William Ritschel, Paul Dougherty, William Keith, and Orrin White.

 Surprise! The website for the Carmel mission has a substantial section on art.  Check out www.carmelmission.org/museum/exhibitions/ to view information on Will Sparks paintings, E. Charlton Fortune works and permanent art displays on Jo Mora and other art.

 The Los Angeles Art Association, first formed in the 1930s by disgruntled former supporters of the art section of Los Angeles’s Museum of History, Science and Art, is still alive and well on La Cienega Boulevard and celebrating its 85^th anniversary.  For details on the group that has, for many years, been dedicated to its member artists, see www.laaa.org.

 The American Art Council, LACMA, made a one-day trip on Saturday, March 20, 2010, to view the Millard Sheets exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.  Attendees enjoyed a tour of the eighty outstanding oils, watercolors, drawings and lithographs led by curator Gordon McClelland.

 The Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Newsletter for April 2010 contains three important articles: Stanford University’s Memorial Church’s Stained Glass Windows by Frederick Stymetz Lamb, the exhibit of sea painter Alexander Dzigurski at the Norton Museum, and the show of Disney artists now hung in the lobby of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.  See www.bodegabayheritagegallery.com and link to the Newsletter.

 The Oceanside Museum of Art announces the departure of Skip Pahl as its Executive Director and the arrival of Ed Fosmire to take his place.  Pahl, in his twelve years at OMA, left achievements that few could equal, including the recent mortgage-free major expansion of the building, and so your editor’s best goes out to Fosmire in the hope he can equal such achievements.  With a specialty in Asian art and a particular interest in the arts of India, Fosmire has been in the art field for seventeen years beginning as an instructor of art history and art appreciation.  He still teaches at Chapman University.  Most recently he has served as Director of Development and Marketing at Long Beach Museum of Art and then at California State University, Long Beach, where his program raised almost $1.5 million over the past year.

 CaliforniaWatercolor.com announces new acquisitions by artists Rex Brandt, Millard Sheets, Don O’Neill Art Riley, Fred Sersen and Jack Laycox.  To see images, as well as biographies and images for sale by Elmer Plummer, Standish Backus, Emil Kosa Jr., Phil Dike, Robert E. Wood, and Jake Lee, consult www.CaliforniaWatercolor.com.

 June 5-6, 2010.  Wieghorst Western Heritage Days, El Cajon.  Western music, historical presenters, storytelling, reenactments, food, vendors, and arts and crafts.  Downtown.  (619) 590-3431.  See also wieghorstmuseum.org.

 On its tenth anniversary, the Wildling Art Museum announces the arrival of a new Executive Director, Stacey Otte.  For the last ten years she has been the Executive Director of the Catalina Island Museum.  Otte grew up in Missouri and received her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Arizona State University and a Master’s Degree in museum studies from Cooperstown Graduate Program in Cooperstown, N. Y.  At Catalina Otte organized exhibits and has also held positions at other museums.  She looks forward to building on what the former director achieved by establishing partnerships and expanding museum visitation.  Retiring Executive Director Penny Knowles will continue to work with the art museum.

 Milt Gross, New York cartoonist who spent the 1940s working on animation in Hollywood, is chronicled on the website of Hollywood Animation archive, www.animationarchive.org.  Gross’s earliest cartoons, per the fashion of the times, derived humor from immigrants speaking in regional dialects, but by 1930 he issued his He Done Her Wrong, a book of non-dialect parodies of novels, which put him on the map.  By 1940 he was active in Hollywood where he later died.

 American Eagle Fine Art, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, has sent an email of its special, April offerings.  It has new works by Carl Sammons, George Henry Melcher, Joane Cromwell, William Seltzer Rice and Ila McAfee among others.  May offerings include works by Donna Schuster, Aaron Kilpatrick, William S. Darling, Joane Cromwell, Sueo Serisawa and others.  View more new works at www.americaneaglefineart.com. Galleries in Benicia (California) and Scottsdale (Arizona).

 The Historical Arts Council of the Laguna Art Museum made a one-day trip to Pasadena on April 17, 2010 to view art.  At the Huntington Library the group enjoyed a private tour of the recently renovated Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art whose collection contains several works by California artists.  At the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Janet Blake, LAM’s Curator of Collections and a expert in California watercolor paintings led the group on a tour of the exhibit Millard Sheets: The Early Years.  Following a gourmet Chinese lunch at Yujean Kang’s in Old Town Pasadena, the group concluded its day at the home of Mary and Nick Alexander to view their collection of plein air paintings.

 Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, LA sends a postcard with a stunning early Mabel Alvarez painting titled The Parasol reproduced on it.  This is the one you want to own.  It is straight from the teaching of William V. Cahill.

 Karges Fine Art announces recent acquisitions of work by Thomas Hunt, William Wendt, Francis McComas, Colin Campbell Cooper, Gustave Baumann and Edgar Payne. An earlier email cited works by Carl Oscar Borg, Percy Gray, J. Christopher Smith, Millard Sheets, Granville Redmond, and Hanson Puthuff.   See its website www.kargesfineart.com.

 Karges Fine Art has started a blogspot.  It contains historical essays and biographical information, and questions posed by users will be answered.  Check out  http://www.kargesfineart.blogspot.com/

 The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. recently acquired Edward Biberman’s portrait of the American singer, Lena Horne.

 The California African American Museum, which holds a large archive of photographs by Howard Morehead, one of the few African American photographers who worked steadily (for 45 years) in the entertainment industry and who died in July of 2003, has organized and is making available a traveling exhibit of his work.  It is titled “I Shot Ray Charles,” named from the many images of the famous blind pianist who Morehead knew personally. 

 Alfred E. Stendahl (1915-2010), son of historic painting dealer Earl Stendahl, owner of Stendahl Galleries in Hollywood, passed away in Studio City on Saturday, May 1, 2010, of complications from a stroke that he suffered two years ago.  Al was married to Ursula, the daughter of designer Kem Weber, who pre-deceased him.  Through the years Al helped his father in the gallery as it went from offering American/California Impressionists in the 1920s to modernists in the 1930s and finally, pre-Columbian art.  Following World War II, where Al earned hero status in the Army Air Corps, he continued his association with Stendahl Galleries.  He was one of the founders of the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles and was appointed to the first Presidential Commission on Cultural Property by Ronald Reagan in 1984.  The Gallery still offers pre-Columbian art in the Stendahl home in the Hollywood Hills, which is now run by Ron Dammann, Al’s nephew.  The book Exhibitionist: Earl Stendahl, Art Dealer as Impresario authored by April Dammann is due out from Angel City Press in Spring 2011 on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of continuous operation of Stendahl Galleries.  It contains extensive references to Al.

 Ernest Braun, photographer son of San Diego painter Maurice Braun died recently.  First working as a photo journalist, then as a combat photographer for the U. S. Army during World War II, he went on to become a commercial photographer and then to creating fine art landscape photos.  His website is www.ernestbraun.com.   

Permanent displays of historic (pre-1945) California paintings can be found at many California institutions, which are listed on www:CaliforniaArt.com in the “Galleries” section (scroll down to Museums).  Several institutions have already put their permanent collections (including California works) on-line.

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

 Through May 30, 2010.  Celebrating the Founders: Organizers of the Santa Paula Art Show, Santa Paula Art Museum.

 July 11, 2009 – August 29, 2010.  Everything Under the Sun: Photographs by Imogen Cunningham, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington.   Bay area photographer of the mid twentieth century.

 February 11 – June 12, 2010.  Portraits in Paradise: The Photography of Carolyn and Edwin Gledhill, 1906-1944, Santa Barbara Historical Society.   The husband/wife team became THE portrait photographers of Santa Barbara during the first half of the 20^th century.

 February 17 – June 13, 2010.  Take a Hike, Snoopy, Charles Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa.   Charles Schulz’s beagle dog character, Snoopy, began his antics as a Beagle Scout on May 13, 1974.  This exhibit explores how Schulz’s portrayal of the Beagle Scout changed over twenty five years.

 February 28 – June 20, 2010.  Space, Silence, Spirit: Maynard Dixon’s West, Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah.  Traveling exhibit of the Hays collection discussed in an earlier Newsletter when it was on view at the Palm Springs Museum.  See article, below, under “Magazine Articles”.

 March 4-28, 2010.  Ray Strong: Trees of Gold, Sullivan Goss Fine Arts, Santa Barbara.  Regionalist landscapist.

 March 5 – May 9, 2010.  DreamWorlds, Art Center College of Design, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Pasadena.  Animation art from DreamWorks.  Features artwork, models and visual development from the films Antz, Bee Movie, El Dorado, Flushed Away, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Escape 2 Africa, Monsters vs. Aliens, Over the Hedge, Prince of Egypt, Shark Tale, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, Sinbad and Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron.

 March 6 – June 11, 2010.  All Aboard: The Life and Work of Marjorie Reed, Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona.  Reed, a California artist, painted western scenes and became known for her stagecoach pictures.

 March 28 – September 28, 2010.  The Liturgical Art of E. Charlton Fortune and the Monterey Guild, 1928-1958, Mora Chapel Gallery, Carmel Mission, Carmel, Ca.  Curated by Julianne Burton-Carvajal.  Thirty-five original works including ceramics, textiles, metalworks, woodcarvings, paintings, photographs, albums, drawings and the artist’s correspondence.  Some of the pieces come from the Mission’s collection, including her masterpiece “Christ Awakening the Apostles in the Garden of Gesthemane.”  “In mid-career, Fortune abandoned landscape painting and founded the Monterey Guild, grouping around her artists and artisans dedicated to reviving ecclesiastical art by decorating small Catholic Churches, which began with St. Angela’s in Pacific Grove, California. Fortune described her work with the Guild as ‘making bad churches less awful’ and became so involved, that she decided to devote her whole time to it. By 1943, the Guild had completed thirty-four churches around the country. The Monterey Guild was the only group of American artists asked to show at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.” (from the Carmel Art Association website)  When Fortune turned to liturgical art, she won the gold medal for design from the American Institute of Architects and was eventually honored by the Pope.

 March 31 – June 6, 2010.  Milford Zornes: An American Artist, Wildling Art Museum, Los Olivos, Ca.  California Style watercolors curated by Alissa J. Anderson with the assistance of Gordon McClelland.  Items borrowed from various private collections.

 April 1 – June 27, 2010.  The Last New Century: American Art from 1880-1920, Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, Santa Barbara.  Covering all the important stylistic periods from the Hudson River School to California Impressionism, the show includes 30+ works by American (including Californian) artists: Helen Balfour, Albert Bierstadt, John Califano, Colin Campbell Cooper, Gideon Jacques Denny, Lockwood DeForest, Mauritz de Haas, Anna Hills, Christian Jorgensen, Nell Brooker Mayhew, Frederick Schaffer and George Symons.  Images can be viewed at www.sullivangoss.com. 

 April 17 - ?, 2010.  Generations, Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery, Bodega Bay, Ca.  The paintings of early seascapist Alexander Dzigurski and his son, contemporary artist Alexander Dzigurski II, as well as early desert artist John Hilton and his daughter, contemporary artist Kathi Hilton.

 April 18 – October 3, 2010.  Painting World War II: The California Style Watercolor Artists, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, Ca.  More than 60 paintings depicting scenes of California during wartime as well as images of the war overseas.  Artists include Arthur Beaumont, Rex Brandt, Hardie Gramatky, Dong Kingman, Barse Miller, Phil Paradise, Charles Payzant, Ed Reep, Millard Sheets and Milford Zornes.    Curator is painter/teacher/collector Glen Knowles.  www.oma-online.org/exhibits.html

 April 24 – August 22, 2010.  The Language of Lines: Imaginary Places in the Comics, Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa.  This exhibit features the imaginary environments in which comic strip characters dwell including Li’l Abner’s Dogpatch, Krazy Kat’s Coconino County, and Beetle Bailey’s Camp Swampy.

 April 27 – August 1, 2010.  Alex Dzigurski: Poet of the Land and Sea, Norton Museum, Shreveport, Louisiana.  Landscapes and seascapes  from the family’s collection.

 April 30, 2010.  Los Angeles Modernism Show & Sale, Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Air Center, Santa Monica, Ca.  This show covers modern art of the entire twentieth century.  Some of our favorite dealers were there including: Trigg Ison Fine Art of West Hollywood, Maureen Murphy Fine Arts of Montecito, Papillon Gallery of Los Angeles, Spencer Jon Helfen Fine Arts of Beverly Hills and the Prints & The Pauper of Santa Monica.

 May 1 – August 1, 2010.  Mine Okubo: Citizen 13660, Oakland Museum of California.  Okubo was working in Oakland as an artist when Pearl Harbor was bombed in December 1941.  Like others of Japanese descent living on the Pacific Coast, she was forced to take up residence in an internment camp – Topaz in Utah – for sixteen months before she was able to move to New York where she resumed her career.  This exhibit was curated by Karen Tsujimoto, Senior Curator at the Oakland Museum.

Spring, 2010.  Discoveries in California Paintings VII: New Acquisitions, Spring 2010, The North Point Gallery, San Francisco.  The show is accompanied by a five-fold brochure that reproduces in color and discusses 14 paintings by Northern California turn-of-the-twentieth century artists such as Frederick Butman, William Keith, Raymond Yelland, Henry Alexander, Edwin Deakin and Albert Bierstadt, to name a few.  A reception was held on May 4, 2010.

 May 14 – August 22, 2010.  The Fantastical Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills.  Showcases the work of stop-motion animation and visual effects pioneer Harryhausen.

 May 14 – August 22, 2010.  Chuck Jones: An Animator’s Life from A to Z-Z-Z-Z, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, Grand Lobby Gallery.  150 drawings, storyboards, cells, dialogue sheets and other materials from the career of cartoonist and humorist Chuck Jones (1912-2002) who created such characters as Bugs Bunny, Pepe Le Pew, Daffy Duck, Wilie E. Coyote, Elmer Fudd, and many others.  Materials are from the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity and the Chuck Jones Collection at Warner Brothers.

 May 15 – September 6, 2010.  California Landscapes: Gifts to the Huntington’s Art Collections, Huntington Library and Art Gallery, Scott Galleries, Chandler Wing, San Marino, Ca.  “The landscape of California as depicted by a variety of 20^th-century artists will be explored in a small exhibition of paintings, watercolors, drawings, prints and photographs from The Huntington’s art collection.  The display includes works by painters Guy Rose, Marion Wachtel and Percy Gray as well as modernists such as photographer Edward Weston, wood engraver Paul Landacre, and painter Rinaldo Cuneo.

 May 18 – June 12, 2010.  The Art of Costume Illustration, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles.  Shows the evolution of costume design illustration through history including recent items from the world of motion picture and television costume design.

 May 20 – August 15, 2010.  California Impressionism: Selections from The Irvine Museum, The Haggin Museum, Stockton.  Traveling exhibit of fifty-nine paintings by California Impressionists from The Irvine Museum. 

 May 22 – July 3, 2010.  Edwin Roscoe Shrader (1878-1960), George Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood.  Shrader was an Impressionist/post-Impressionist who headed Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1923 to his retirement in 1949.  A comprehensive, full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition. 

 June 12, 2010 – January 2, 2011.  Photographing the American West: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Palm Springs Art Museum.  These views of the American West from 1866 to the present document the changing visions of the west including spectacular vistas and unique land formations.

 June 12, 2010.  10^th Annual Antique & Contemporary Tile Sale, California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica.  For information call 310-392-8537 or view the Museum’s website.

 June 13 – September 19, 2010.  Fernand Lungren: The Desert Speaks, Wildling Museum, Los Olivos, Ca.  Lungren resided in Santa Barbara for the last twenty-six years of his life and made frequent trips to Death Valley, the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave, and the Grand Canyon to paint.  Over 300 of his works were bequeathed to the Santa Barbara State Teacher’s College (and now reside in the University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Museum).  Twenty of these beautiful desert landscapes are augmented in this show with loans from other collectors.  Also on view is interpretative material about the fragility of the desert landscape.

 June 16 – October 23, 2010.  Saving Paradise, The Irvine Museum, Irvine, California. 

 June 19 – August 16, 2010.  Sister Corita: The Joyous Revolutionary, University of Michigan Art Museum, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  1950s+ nun printmaker and painter.

 June 24 – October 7, 2010.  Lasting Impressions: Colin Campbell Cooper, Santa Barbara Historical Society Museum.  Cooper, one of the top Impressionists in early twentieth-century Southern California, was a resident of Santa Barbara in his later years.

June 26 – August 29, 2010.  Gene Kloss – From Berkeley to Taos, Harwood Museum of the University of New Mexico.  Berkeley/Taos etcher.

 July 10 – October 3, 2010.  Ansel Adams: Portrait of America, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, Ca.  First stop on a world tour for the largest collection of iconic photographs by Adams to appear in one place.  Known as the “Museum Set,” these 72 works were selected by Adams himself as being his most iconic.  He began printing them up for museums but completed only a few sets before he died; this set is lent by the Adams family.

 July 24 – September 12, 2010, Delicate Strength: Early Western Women Artists: Annie Harmon, Mary DeNeale Morgan, and Marion K. Wachtel, Hearst Art Gallery, Mount St. Mary’s College, Moraga, Ca.   Harmon (1855-1930) studied with Raymond Yelland and William Keith and in the 1890s had a studio in San Francisco where she painted landscapes of the Bay Area.  The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed 480 of her works on canvas.  Many of her later productions were miniatures on cigar box tops.  Morgan, an Impressionist landscapist and later liturgical painter headquartered in Monterey while Marion Wachtel a watercolor landscapist traveled with her husband around Southern California and into Mexico.

 September 1, 2010 – January 7, 2011.  Sister Corita: The Joyous Revolutionary, Hoffman Gallery, Portland, Oregon.

 October 3, 2010 – January 2, 2011.  Barthe: His Life in Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis.  Black sculptor who died in Los Angeles.

 October 10 – November 28, 2010.  Wayne Thiebaud: Homecoming, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento.  Pop painter of the Bay Area 1960+.

 October 31, 2010 – January 23, 2011.  E. Roscoe Shrader, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, Ca.  Traveled from George Stern Fine Arts in West Hollywood.  Shrader grew up in Los Angeles, studied at the art school at the Art Institute of Chicago and eventually attended the Howard Pyle School of Illustration in Wilmington, Delaware.  Between approximately 1906 and 1914 he earned his living as an illustrator but then turned to fine art, associating with the New Hope, Pennsylvania, school of Impressionists.  In 1917 he returned to Los Angeles and, a year after Otis Art Institute opened in 1918, he joined the faculty soon rising to become Dean, a position he held until his retirement in the late 1940s.  In the 1920s he associated with the Group of Eight, most of whom painted figures and still lifes in forms of post-Impressionism.

 November 14 (or 21), 2010 – March 20, 2011.  Gardens and Grandeur: Porcelains and Paintings by Franz A. Bischoff, Pasadena Museum of California Art.  Curated by Jean Stern, Executive Director of the Irvine Museum.  Accompanied by a major book/catalogue.

 Unknown date, 2010 Frank Coburn Paintings from the Collection of the Bowers Museum, Old Orange County Courthouse Museum, Santa Ana. 

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 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. 

 Matthew W. Roth, et al, Scenic View Ahead: The Westways Cover Art Program, 1928-1981, Los Angeles: Automobile Club of Southern California, 2009.  143 pp.  Reproduces 125 covers produced between 1928 and 1981.  A series of articles by top names in the field of historic California art touch on topics such as Phil Townsend Hanna, the editor who elected to hire local artists and photographers to illustrate the magazine, women artists, Maynard Dixon, watercolor artists who supplied illustrations, artists Jake Lee and Merv Corning, etc.  Roth is joined by Morgan P. Yates, Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick and Phil Kovinick, John Ott, Patricia Trenton, Michael Duchemin, Jim Heimann and Orville O. Clarke, Jr.  The art owned by the Auto Club is just one of many hidden art treasures in Los Angeles.

 Janet Blake and Phil Kovinick, Edwin Roscoe Shrader (1878-1960), West Hollywood: George Stern Fine Arts, 2010.  144 pp.  Accompanies the exhibit of the same title.

 Dave Hickey, et al., Frederick Hammersley, Art Santa Fe Presents and Museum of New Mexico Press, 2009.  California hard-edge abstractionist of the mid twentieth century.

 M. Thomas Inge, ed., My Life with Charlie Brown: Charles M. Schulz, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010.  216 pp.  Comic strip artist.  There is a museum in Santa Rosa, California, devoted to his work.

 Daniel Widener, Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles, Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press, 2010.  384 pp.

 Chuck Stormes and Don Reeves, Luis Ortega’s Rawhide Artistry: Braiding in the California Tradition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.  160 pp. 148 illus.

 Ira M. Resnick, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood, New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 2010.  272 pp.  304 illus.

 Joyce R. Muench, West Coast Portrait, New York: Hastings House, 1946.  Illustrated with etchings by Roi Partridge, Armin Hansen, Thomas Handforth (of British Columbia?), William S. Gamble (of Alaska?), John Cotton, Conrad Buff, Charles Heaney, Shiro Miyazaki, John W. Winkler, L. N. Scammon, Arthur Lites, Ray Boynton and photos by Josef Muench.

 Lella F. Smith, Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2009.  Catalogue for an exhibit.  120 pp.  176 illus.

 Donald J. Hagerty, The Life of Maynard Dixon, Layton, Ut.: Gibbs Smith, 2010.  256 pp.  188 illus.

 Geoffrey Beaumont is at work on a book on watercolorist Arthur Beaumont which will be published by the Irvine Museum.  

 April Damman’s Exhibitionist: Earl Stendahl, Art Dealer as Impresario will be published by Angel City Press in early 2011.  See her website www.aprildammann.com.

  Illustrators

Heritage of Gold: The First 100 Years of Sunkist Growers, Inc., 1893-1993, illustrates many Orange Crate labels.

 Native American

Illustrated History of Indian Baskets and Plates made by California Indians … now on Exhibit at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition, reprinted by Leo K. Brown, Reedly, Ca., 1970.

 Architecture

Margaret Bach, Cottages in the Sun: Bungalows of Venice, California, New York: Rizzoli, 2010.  240 pp. 200 col. Illus.

 Dave Weinstein, Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area, Gibbs Smith, 2006.  Fifteen architects chosen as examples of the various stylistic periods seen in the Bay Area.  The book is an outgrowth of Weinstein’s articles appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Architects include the Newsom brothers, Leola Hall, Ernest Coxhead, Luther Turton, Albert Farr, John Hudson Thomas, Frank Wolfe, Birge Clark, Carr Jones, Gardner Dailey, Roger Lee, Jack Hillmer, Warren Callister, Donald Olsen and the firm of Ace Architects.  Sidebars cover topics such as what is Queen Anne, what is stick, what is Arts and Crafts, and the Eichler Phenomenon.  Architectural styles also include English Cottage, Stucco, Prairie, Colonial, Modern and more.

 Rob Keil, Little Boxes: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb, Daly City: Advection Media, 2006.  Includes a profile of Henry Doelger, the developer of the Westlake project in Daly City, near San Francisco.  These mid-century, post-WWII “boxes” were built for about $9,000.  The book includes interviews with several of the architects and many full-page color photos of the varied architecture.

 Hans Dieter Schaal, Learning from Hollywood: Architecture and Film, Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges GmbH, 2010.  

 “Maynard Dixon’s West – The Hays Collection,” American Art Review, v. XXII, no. 2, March-April 2010, pp. 98-99.

 Amy Scott, “Art and Adventure in Nineteenth Century California,” California History, 86.4 (September 2009), 14 (12).  Albert Bierstadt and his experiences in Yosemite.

 Scott Shields, “Eternal Light: Visions of Gottardo Piazzoni,” California History, 80 2/3 (Summer-Fall 2001), 106 (21).

 Mark Hunpal, “Artist Ray Strong: An Enduring Vision of the Oregon Landscape,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, 109.1 (Spring 2008), p. 98.

 Thomas P. Jacobsen, “Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden,” California History, 83.3 (Winter 2006), 73: 2.  Fruit crate labels.

 Sally Sims Stokes, “In a Climate Like Ours, The California Campuses of Allison and Allison,” California History, 84.4 (Fall 2007) 26 (48).

 E. Breck Parkman, “Missiles of Peace: Benny Bufano’s Message to the World,” California History, 84.3 (Spring 2007) 43: 20.  Sculptor of San Francisco from the 1930s.

 Sidney Laurence, “The Ghirardelli Story,” California History, 81.2 (Spring-Fall 2002) 90:30.  Probably includes information on artist Angela Ghirardelli who married artist Chris Jorgensen.

 Ken Allan, “A Seed of Modernism: The Los Angeles Art Students League 1906-1953,” California History, 86.1 (Winter 2008) 68 (2).

 M. Elizabeth Boone, “Something of his own Soil, Jewish History, Mural Painting, and Bernard Zakheim in San Francisco,” American Jewish History, 90.2 (June 2002) 123 (19).  Coit tower murals.

 Peter H. Hassrick, “The Oregon Art of A. Phimister Proctor,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, 104.3 (Fall 2003) 394.  Sculptor active briefly in Los Angeles.

 Isabel Kelly, “The Carver’s Art of the Indians of Northwestern California,” University of California, Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, v. 24, no. 7, August 6, 1930, pp. 343-360.

 Myrtle Garrison, “Sculpture Between the Tides,” Sunset, Sept. 1911.  Sand Modeling movement started in Southern California beaches.

 Julianne Burton-Carvajal, “The Liturgical Arts: E. Charlton Fortune,” American Art Review, v. XXII, No. 3, May-June 2010, pp. 98-101.

 Glen Knowles, “Painting World War II: California Style Watercolor Artists,” American Art Review, V. XXII, no. 3, May-June 2010, pp. 122+.

 Robert Greenwood, “Spectacular Collection of Real Photo Postcards Donated by E. F. Mueller,” California State Library Foundation Bulletin, no. 96, 2010, pp. 10-13.  Commercially produced postcards are printed by the lithographic process in the thousands.  However, in 1902, Eastman Kodak issued a special camera and film for the taking of personal postcards.  Mueller’s donated 2600 real photo postcards are all one-of-a-kind and of California subjects.

 “George S. Patton Scouts with John W. Hilton in the Desert,” Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery Newsletter for May, 2010.  See www.bodegabayheritagegallery.com.   

 March 28, 2010, 2 p.m.  Gordon McClelland gave a pre-opening talk related to the exhibition Milford Zornes: An American Artist, on view at the Wildling Art Museum, Los Olivos.  The talk was followed by a reception for Museum members and guests from 3-5 p.m.

 April 11, 2010, 2 p.m.  Milford Zornes’ daughter, Maria Baker, and her husband Hal, spoke about Milford Zornes’ art at the Wildling Art Museum, Los Olivos, Ca.

 May 20, 2010, 7 p.m.  Glen Knowles, curator of Painting World War II: The California Watercolor Artists at the Oceanside Museum of Art led a walk-through of the exhibition.  A profile on Knowles can be seen under “Editorial” above. 

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, John Moran at www.johnmoran.com; and Clark’s Fine Art & Auctioneers in Sherman Oaks at www.estateauctionservice.com.

 April 20, 2010.  California and Western Paintings and Sculpture, Bonhams and Butterfields, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 May 25, 2010.  John Moran, Antiques & Decorative Arts Auction, Pasadena Convention Center.  Contained artworks by Walt Disney, Dan Lutz, George Post, Darwin Duncan, Lorenzo Latimer, Carl Sammons, Evylena Nunn Miller and Carl Schmidt.

 June 15, 2010.  California & American Fine Art Auction, John Moran, Pasadena.

 August 2010.  California and Western Paintings and Sculpture, Bonhams & Butterfields, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  

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