California Art History / Articles contained in Resource Library without named authors: L-O

California Art History

with an emphasis on representational art

(above: William Wendt (1865-1946), Inyo County, 1926. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Articles contained in Resource Library without named authors listed by article name in alphabetical order: L-O

also see: A-B California Car-CSU E-I P-Z

L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy is a 2012 exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The figurative artists, who dominated the postwar Los Angeles art scene until the late 1950s, have largely been written out of today's art history. This exhibition, part of the Getty Foundations initiative "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980," traces the distinctive aesthetic of figurative expressionism from the end of World War II, bringing together over 120 works by forty-one artists in a variety of media -- painting, sculpture, photography, and performance

The Legacy of the California Art Club in San Diego chronicles the history of art in San Diego, California from the turn of the 20th century through the beginning of the present century.

The Lighter Side of Bay Area Figuration is a 2000 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition which contains 56 humorous, whimsical and satirical works of art by San Francisco Bay artists such as Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Richard Diebenkorn, and Viola Frey. Comic art in the Bay area began to flourish during the late 1950s in deliberate defiance of New York's avant-garde.

San Francisco's distance from the center of commerce and criticism fostered a renegade mentality and a tendency toward personal forms of expression. Bucking mainstream trends by combining humor with lowbrow artistic media and techniques became a badge of honor for many Bay Area artists. The hub of humorous figurative art was the University of California in Davis, a sleepy and relatively remote campus town 70 miles north of San Francisco. Although their aesthetics differed, most of the Davis artists explored humorous narratives, whether in clay sculpture or representational painting. The UC-Davis art department included artists Arneson, De Forest, Thiebaud, Manuel Neri, and William Wiley. There, Thiebaud painted his whimsical still lifes of ordinary objects from gumball machines and yo-yos to pies and cakes, like the exhibition's painting Cakes and Pies, 1994-95. Roy De Forest painted his canvases filled with wild-eyed, pointy eared dogs, and printmaker William Wiley produced his quirky alter ego, "Mr. Unatural." (right: Joan Brown, Portrait of Bob for Bingo, 1960, oil paint oncanvas, 29 x 28 inches, Collection of Joyce and Jay Cooper, AZ, Photo, Jay Cooper)

The Lighter Side of Bay Area Figuration, a 2000 exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art, is a compelling exhibition of approximately 70 works that deftly examines the historical, social, cultural, and aesthetic development of humorous Bay Area art. The exhibition -- the first to identify and examine this genre -- highlights the work of artists associated with the University of California at Davis, such as Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, and Wayne Thiebaud, and with artists associated with the East Bay, such as Robert Colescott, Joan Brown, M. Louise Stanley, and James Albertson.

The Loaded Brush: Recent Watercolors from the Crocker Art Museum Collection is a 1998 exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum which features nearly twenty works from the museum's collection, most created since 1950, to demonstrate the diverse ways artists from the nearby area have approached the watercolor medium.

Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000 / Section 1: 1900 - 1920 / Section 2: 1920 - 1940 / Section 3: 1940 - 1960 / Section 4: 1960 - 1980 / Section 5: 1980 - 2000 is a 2000 multi-part exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition goes beyond a standard presentation of California art to offer a revisionist view of the state and its cultural legacy. It considers both "booster" images of California and other coexisting and at times competing images, reflecting the wide range of interests and experiences of the state's diverse constituencies. The exhibit approaches the past 100 years thematically, presenting works that engage in a meaningful way with the California image. As opposed to a survey exhibition, Made in California moves beyond the established canon of artists and art works to include lesser-known works by celebrated figures as well as a wider range of artists, more in keeping with the diversity of California's population. It is the shared conviction of the exhibition organizers that this approach, intended to initiate a broader dialogue on California art rather than establish a new canon.

(above: Charles Dormon Robinson, Crests of the Sierra, 1909. oil on canvas. Crocker Art Museum, gift of Lillian M. Robinson, conserved with funds provided by Alfred C. Harrison, Jr., North Point Gallery, San Francisco, 1950.18. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

Made in Monterey a 2009 exhibition at the Monterey Museum of Art, is a sweeping exhibition of the most beloved and important works from the permanent collection created by artists in Monterey or by those inspired by the region. Beginning with the pioneering artists who sojourned on the Central Coast in the late 19th century (including Jules Tavernier and Raymond Dabb Yelland), the exhibition features significant works of Monterey modernists such as Armin Hansen and Margaret Bruton as well as photography visionaries Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. Two renowned works by Armin Hansen, Nino and Men of the Sea, have been conserved and make their stunning debut in this new presentation.

Majestic California: Prominent Artists of the Early 1900's is a 2007 exhibition at The Irvine Museum. At one time, California was considered a distant Eden, isolated within its own beauty. From snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the desolate splendor of the Mojave Desert; from flower-covered hills to countless secluded valleys and meadows; from the dazzling beaches of the south to the rocky coves of the north, it was a world of its own. The enthralling beauty of California is the principal reason that, starting in the middle of the 19th century, artists began to take the long, hazardous journey to paint its unique splendor. By the early 1900's, California had its own group of prominent artists who proclaimed that beauty throughout the country.

Marin's Rock Art Scene is a 2020 exhibit at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art which says: "The show features photography from Herb Greene and Jay Blakesberg, vintage posters by Stanley Mouse, Randy Tuten, Bonnie MacLean and Wes Wilson, original artwork by Joan Baez and Dave Getz, and priceless memorabilia, such as a Gibson electric guitar signed by the Jefferson Airplane." Accessed 4/21

Masters of Light, a 2007 exhibition at The Irvine Museum, is the first International Exhibition of California Plein-Air paintings to tour Europe. This landmark exhibition, comprised of fifty-eight nationally known California Impressionist paintings, is assembled from the collections of the Irvine Museum as well as loans from some of the most important private collections in the United States. These notable collectors include, in alphabetical order, Paul and Kathleen Bagley, Dr. and Mrs. Edward H. Boseker, The Buck Collection, John and Patricia Dilks, Jack and Suzie Kenefick, Dr. Oscar and Trudy Lemer, De Witt Clinton McCall, Raymond G. Redfern, Roy C. Rose and the Rose Family Collection, The Joan Irvine Smith Collection, Mr. and Mrs. George Stern, Jean and Laura Stern, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas B. Stiles II, and The James Irvine Swinden Collection.

Members Collect, a 2003 exhibit at at the Wilding Art Museum, includes a group of historic paintings, prints, and drawings featuring America's wild creatures and wild places borrowed from the private collections of Museum members.

Mission San Juan Capistrano was the scene of several art exhibits in the 1990s and 2000s described in Resource Library.

Moods of California, a 2002 exhibition at The Irvine Museum, portrays California as experienced by three differing yet equally passionate artistic points of view. Percy Gray (1869-1952), a superb watercolorist who was fascinated by the soft, gentle light and haze of northern California; Paul Grimm (1887-1974), a landscape painter who in his later years moved to Palm Springs and became famous for paintings of the desert; and Emil Kosa, Jr. (1903-1968) who became one of Hollywood's best known scenic painters and set designers, while distinguishing himself as a bold painter of urban Los Angeles as well as light-filled views of the countryside.

Nature's Harmony is a 2000 exhibition at The Irvine Museum. The nostalgic ideal of California as an unsullied Eden is evident in this exhibition of paintings from nearly a century ago. In addition to panoramic views of the California landscape, covered with rolling hills of wildflowers and oak trees, this exhibition features still-life paintings of flowers by some of California's best known artists.

Nautica '99 is a juried exhibition from the Ventura County Maritime Museum and features work dedicated exclusively to Ventura County artists with a maritime theme, presented in cooperation with The Oxnard Art Association and the Arts Alliance of Ventura County.

The Not-So-Still Life: A Century of California Painting and Sculpture, held in 2003 at the San Jose Museum of Art, includes more than 100 works of art by such artists as Guy Rose, Franz Bischoff, Armin Hansen, Lorser Feitelson, Stanton McDonald-Wright, Hans Burkhardt, Helen Lundeberg, Paul Wonner, Wayne Thiebaud, Mildred Howard, Edward Ruscha, Ed Kienholz, George Herms, Richard Shaw, Peter Shelton, Alan Rath, and Robert Therrien. Divided into three sections: 1900-1930, 1920-1950 and 1950- 2000, the exhibition traces the intriguing evolution of still life in California over the last century. It is a revisionist examination of the genre. According to the curators, what was once the most conservative form of artistic practice has been transformed into one of the more radical forms of expression. Contemporary still life is no longer "still" -- it has not only moved off the table, but off the wall and into three dimensions. The exhibition examines a great variety of styles and media, from Impressionist paintings of apples and oranges to witty ceramic sculpture, funky assemblage art, and electronic media.

Of Springtimes Past is a 1998 exhibit at The Irvine Museum. The nostalgic ideal of California as an unsullied Eden is evident in numerous paintings executed nearly a century ago. Vast vistas of gentle rolling hills, covered with brilliant wildflowers as far as the eye could see, will adorn the walls of the museum. Many of these works were painted in meadows and plateaus deep in the hills but a surprising number of them are located in or near what are now bustling cities.

Old California is a 2000 exhibition at the California Art Club Gallery featuring original paintings and sculptures inspired by the romance and hardships that built a land named after the 16th century Spanish fable describing the treasure island, "California." The exhibition features prominent genre and figure artists of the California Art Club: Kalan Brunink, William George, Dan Goozeé, Joseph Mendez, Joel Phillips, Vic Riesau, and early CAC artist, Theodore Lukits (1897-1992).

On Location in Malibu 2003: Paintings by the California Art Club is a 2003 exhibit at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University. As a follow-up to the hit exhibition On Location in Malibu: Paintings by the California Art Club of 1999, members of the California Art Club have returned once again to paint Malibu's picturesque scenery.

On Location in Malibu 2006: Paintings by the California Art Club a 2006 exhibit at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University presents paintings depicting Malibu and which were painted over the course of the last year by members of the California Art Club. Some of the paintings present familiar scenes in the spirit of the vintage California Impressionist style. Others offer unexpected and novel views of the region, drawing inspiration from film, photography, and more recent styles in contemporary culture. The works of art explore not only the picturesque beaches, coastline, canyons, and mountains, but also the daily life in the coastal community between Los Angeles and the Ventura County line which is a popular destination for surfers, hikers, and horseback riders.

On the Shoulders of Giants: Selected Works from the NUMU Atelier Masters and Students is a 2019 exhibit at the New Museum Los Gatos which says: "The exhibition showcases all levels of mastery in the traditional style of classical drawing and painting." Accessed 4/20

Also see: Pacific Coast Painting: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington: 19th-21st Century

(above: Lew E. Davis, Early Spanish Caballeros, Los Banos, CA Post Office, 1940, tempera. Treasury Department Section of Painting and Sculpture. Image courtesy of USPS)

Articles contained in Resource Library without named authors listed by article name in alphabetical order:A-B Cal Car-CSU E-I L-O P-Z

Also see: Pacific Coast Painting: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington: 19th-21st Century

Resource Library articles and essays devoted to individual artists and institutions may not be listed in California Art History.

TFAO's Distinguished Artists catalogue provides online access to biographical information for artists associated with California. Also, Search Resource Library for online articles and essays concerning both individual artists associated with this state's history and the history of art centers and museums in California.

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