National Steinbeck Center
Salinas, CA
831-796-3833
This Side of Eden - Images of Steinbeck's California
In addition to permanent interactive exhibits
celebrating John Steinbeck's life and works, the new National Steinbeck
Center museum offers ever-changing art and cultural exhibits. The inaugural
art exhibit includes major paintings that reflect California in the 1920s,
30s and 40s, some which have not been seen for decades. The National Steinbeck
Center in Salinas, California celebrates its grand opening on June 27, 1998.
"This Side of Eden - Images of Steinbeck's California"
covers a tumultuous period in California's and the country's history, two
world wars and the Great Depression. It was also a time that inspired John
Steinbeck to produce his greatest writing. Many of the 65 works of art in
this exhibition reflect Steinbeck's literature, including two illustrations
by Peggy Worthington Beast from the 1947 Viking deluxe edition of "Tortilla
Flat."
There is an oil portrait of the writer himself, by Judith
Deim, and a drawing by Ellwood Graham of Steinbeck, both done as he prepared
to write "Sea of Cortez." Another Deim painting titled "Beach
Picnic" depicts Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts, who became Doc in Steinbeck's
"Cannery Row," and friends on a Monterey area beach in the mid-1930s.
This painting exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1941.
Three very important watercolors by Millard Owen Sheets
showing the lives of 1930s migrant fieldworkers are also a part of the exhibition.
Sheets was commissioned to do the pieces for a 1939 Fortune Magazine
article. The paintings were discovered in the artist's studio in 1988. Important
Depression pieces by artists such as Maynard Dixon ("No Place to Go"),
Lee Everett Blair ("Okie Camp") and other artists will be exhibited.
Paintings will also depict two areas from which Steinbeck
drew a major body of his work: the Salinas Valley and the Monterey region,
settings for "East of Eden," "The Red Pony," "Cannery
Row" and other works. Watercolors, oils and prints by artists such
as Leon Kirkland Amyx, Sam Colburn, Armin Carl Hansen and more will be on
view.
A watercolor called "The Jeeps" by Colburn belonged
to John Steinbeck's first wife, Carol. Colburn gave it to Carol Steinbeck
after she earned a mechanic's certificate to repair Army Jeeps during World
War II. Carol Steinbeck's stepdaughter Sharon Bacon said the painting reminded
Carol of "good times with good pals.
While a number of art works come from museums and universities,
others were discavered in private collections. Some of the paintings haven't
been seen publicly for decades, such as Jane Beriandina's "Prune Pickets,"
which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1933.
The exhibition will run through September 13, 1998 at the
new National Steinbeck Center, located at One Main Street, Salinas, California.
The exhibition, which will include a color, illustrated catalogue for sale,
is being curated by the Center's executive director, Patricia Leach, and
Steve Hauk, local journalist and gallery owner. Installation of the show
is by Rob Wilson. 
August 17, 1998-- Today I had the pleasure of visiting
the National Steinbeck Center and meeting the executive director, Patricia
Leach. For those unfamiliar with the streets of Salinas, the approach from
Highway 101 is well marked. The city provided close-by free parking on the
adjacent streets. The special exhibit room containing This Side of Eden
comfortably presented the art and the exhibition was well-curated. I
especially enjoyed viewing the fourCalifornia Scene paintings by
Maynard Dixon, and those of other well-known contemporaries of Steinbeck,
that are not as commonly displayed as their more widely-presented paintings
eschewing Depression-related social issues. Visitors will enjoy works by
Sam Colburn, Armin Hansen, Emil Kosa, Jr., Granville Redmond, Millard Sheets,
Ray Strong, and may other regional artists. The exhibit rooms devoted to
John Steinbeck utlilize state-of-the art presentation tools and forcefully
recreate the social, economic and physical environment shaping the thoughts
of the Nobel prize-winning author. A trip off the main highway to experience
the Center is well worth the effort. Ed.
From top to bottom: Art Landy, Field Workers (unitiled), c. 1935; Gottardo Fidele Piazzoni, Summer, c. 1932; Henrietta Shore, The Artichoke Pickers, 1936-37, oil, 29 x 74 inches, lent by California Department of Parks and Recreation, Sacramento; Jane Berlandina, Prune Pickers (detail), 1933, oil, 32 x 24 inches; Judith Deim, Beach Picnic (untitled), c. 1936, oil, 24 x 30 inches; Smith O'Brien, The Cannery, 1931, oil, 20 x 24 inches, courtesy Sue and Clayton Bruntz; George Corbit, Digging Clams, n.d., oil, 37 x 42 inches, courtesy Helen Hilton Raiser; Burton Shepard Boundey, The White House (Untitled), n.d., oil, 20 x 24 inches, courtesy The Soifer Collection; Alexander Warshawsky, Farmer Portrait (Untitled), n.d., oil, 30 x 36 inches, courtesy Naim Farhat. Photo of National Steinbeck Center by John Hazeltine.
Endorphin Productions is a video news
magazine based on the Monterey Peninsula in California. In a video, artist
David Ligare speaks about his exhibit, "Viewpoint:
The Pastures of Heaven," held at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas,
California. In this 2-part video Ligare explains how his works are inspired
by Steinbeck's books. [part 1: 3 minutes, 26 seconds;
part 2: 3 minutes, 22 seconds]
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