Chestnut Street Stomp

Wiegand Gallery

College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA

650-508-3595

http://www.cnd.edu/news/

Chestnut Street Stomp

An exhibition of paintings, drawings, and sculptures selected by longtime gallery owner, Charles Campbell, will be shown at the Wiegand Gallery on the College of Notre Dame campus in Belmont from March 13 through April 21, 2001. The opening reception is Sunday, March 25th from 2 to 4 p.m. The Gallery will also be hosting a special dinner in conjunction with this exhibition to benefit the Wiegand Gallery exhibition program on Thursday, April 19th.

What began as a small frame shop in San Francisco's North Beach gradually grew to become one of the most prominent Bay Area galleries. Then little known artists Elmer Bischoff, Richard Richard Diebenkorn, James Weeks, Joan Brown, and Nathan OIiveira found encouragement and support in Charles CampbelI's gallery. This exhibition will explore the aesthetic sensibility that Campbell has cultivated and promoted during his many years as a gallerist. (left: Richard Diebenkorn, Untitled (Nude), 1964, charcoal, graphite, ink wash on paper, right: Larry Rivers, Untitled (Portrait of a Man), n.d., pencil on paper, 13 x 14 inches)

In an interview with Wiegand Gallery Director Charles Strong, Campbell stated how "until the sixties there were very few galleries showing Bay Area people, and I wanted to show figurative art. That was considered a no-no by gallery owners, because abstract expressionism was hot stuff in New York. And so I just went into figure painting and landscape painting. And there were people who were still interested in that kind of painting. Some painters came to me who were doing that kind of work, like Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner and Manuel Neri; Bob Harvey and Oliveira were figure painters. And little by little I was building up a following." (left: Wayne Thiebaud, Holly Park Ridge, 1980, oil on canvas, 26 x 22 inches)

From drawings by Bonnard and de Kooning to paintings by Oliveira and Joan Brown, and from Mexican folk art to pre-Columbian sculptures, Campbell's eclectic interests have embraced a great variety of styles and mediums. Yet as disparate as these works are, Campbell's focus has been the myriad ways that artists have explored the figure. Since many of the works in the exhibition will be selected from the private collection of Charles and Glenna CampbelI, the Wiegand Gallery's inviting and warm atmosphere is well suited to the personal nature and human scale of this collection. The exhibition is a Charles Campbell selection, co-curated by Charles Strong.

Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line to see enlargements.

This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 5/23/11

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