Roamings of a Leo: Beautiful Spring Day at the Huntington Gardens and Galleries

The gardens were popping big time on this amazingly beautiful 80 plus degree Spring day at the Huntington in San Marino. Below are a few pictures of "nature's artwork."

Tis Cherry Blossom Time (Doubles)

Wisteria helped to frame the picture of the Japanese Gardens

Roses and Iris Together....what a gift!

I strolled through several Galleries including a special exhibit of Maurice Merlin and the American Scene, 1930-1947.

Mr. Merlin lived from 1909 to 1947 and recorded the social and political upheavals of the U.S. during the depression and war years. He was born in Sioux City, Iowa and moved to his family to Chicago, where he studied at the Art Institute. In 1937 he moved to Detroit and worked with the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration. He depicted the gray, gritty reality of American life at that time. He also took aim at the injustices of his period with paintings of poverty and discrimination of the African Americans who had left the South during the Great Migration and encountered racism in the North.

He and his family moved to Los Angeles after World War II where he worked as a commercial artist. He died from cancer in 1947 at the age 38.

"Little Negro Boy" 1930's
The boy is collecting discards perhaps to sell.

"Public Demonstration", 1939

The next exhibit is called "Where they Were Wild, Recapturing California's Wild Flower Heritage." This exhibit pulls together 300 objects drawn from the archives of the Huntington, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens and the Theodore Payne Foundation. Here are a few samples:

"California Poppies" Orginal linoleum block print by Henry Evans, 1918-1990. He depicted 1400 botanical prints beginning in 1958.

Next, I strolled the a gallery with paintings by American artists and found these landscapes where one could meditate and imagine walking into the paintings and exploring the misty scenes a far. (How about these Doug?)