Casa Romantica Art Exhibit

Above the beach and pier at San Clemente is a Spanish styled house and garden called Casa Romantica.  It was built in the 1920's for the family of Ole Hanson, one of the founders of the city. 
We roamed through the house and enjoyed the historical information that was posted.  Mr. Hanson had his villa built to be similar to Casa Pacifica a few miles down the coast.  The Casa Pacifica was the Western White House for President Nixon.

The art exhibit is from the E. Gene Crain Collection which focuses on the achievements of the California School, an association of artist who came of age during the 1930's.  Crain got to know many of these painters who worked in California.

The view from the Casa Romantica

"The Moon Over Russian River Hills," 1982 by Millard Sheets, 1907-1989, watercolor on paper.  The description states that in the later years of his life, Sheets began to paint sunsets and moonlit skies. His home was in Gualala, California.

"Summer Pageant," 1949 by Phil Dike, 1906-1990.  This watercolor painting of Newport Beach was featured on the cover of the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine in August of 1952.

"Night of the Dead, Mexico," 1982 by Millard Sheets, watercolor on heavy wove paper.

"Heritage," 1966 by Robert E. Wood, 1926-1999, watercolor on Arches paper.

"Stallion Confrontation," 1985 by Millard Sheets, watercolor on heavy wove paper.  Sheets had intimate knowledge of horses from his childhood on his grandparents farm in Pomona.

"Rocks at Stewart's Point," 1966 by Millard Sheets, watercolor on paper.

"China Cove at Corona del Mar," 1975 by George Post, 1906-1997, watercolor on paper.

Last Sunset of our Spring Break vacation in San Clemente. The picture was taken from our condo balcony.

San Clemente to Laguna Beach

While enjoying our vacation on the beach in San Clemente, I drove up to Laguna Beach to roam through some art galleries and through the Laguna Art Museum.  I enjoyed some of their permanent collection and two special exhibits.  One exhibit is entitled California Printmakers, 1950-2000 and the other Robert Henri's California: Realism, Race and Region 1914-1925.

Robert Henri was born in 1865 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died in 1929.  He was a distant cousin of Mary Cassatt, artist.  He studied art in Philadelphia and later founded a group called the Ashcan School who left their love of impressionism to engage in a more realistic art to create what was said to be as real as mud, as the clods of horse-shit and now...a smell of human life.  He worked in Philadelphia and Paris.  He later taught at the New York School of Art with students including Edward Hopper and George Bellows.  His first wife died in 1905 and he married Marjorie, a 22 year old cartoonist. 
He later traveled to the Western coast of Ireland and spent several summers in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


Here are my photos of my favorites from the Laguna Art Museum:

                  Scenes of the San Clemente Pier and Beach

     "The Old Post Office," 1922-23 by Joseph Kleitsch, Hungarian, 1882-1831, active U.S.

     Kleitsch was a noted portrait painter who moved to Laguna Beach in 1920.  He loved living

     in Laguna and painted the charm of the small town.

"El Paseo Street," 1924 by F. Carl Schmidt, American 1885-1969.  Schmidt studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to California.  This is a view of El Paseo street in Laguna, site of the first art festival held in August 1932.

"Portrait of a Laborer," 1945 by Francis De Erdely, Hungarian, 1897-1956, active in U.S.
De Erdely settled in Los Angeles in 1944 and is known for expressive and compassionate paintings of the lives of Mexican immigrants.

"The Card Players," 1956 by Hans Gustav Burkhardt, Swiss, 1904-1994, active in U.S.
Burkhardt lived in Los Angeles from 1937.  The painting harkens back to The Card Players by Cezanne and from Picasso.

"Untitled," 1959 by John Altoon, American, 1925-1969.  He is a native of Los Angeles and lived in New York where he developed his style of action painting and then lived in Mallorca before returning to L.A. The description states that Altoon's abstractions are about he artist's own presence, his gestures, as he paints with a messy abandon, free from the traditional ideal of art as imitation of reality.

"The Suspension," 1971-73 by Lyn Foulkes, American, b. 1934

"Jolly Cones," 2002 by Wayne Thiebaud, American, b. 1920.
The artist brush strokes make an image one wants to eat right off the canvas.

"Abstraction," 1955 by Karl Benjamin, American, 1925-2012

"The Beach Hat," 1914 by Robert Henri.
This painting is of Henri's second wife, Marjorie Organ who was an artist herself and the artist's favorite subject.
The description states that the bright palette reflects the Southern California environment.

"Hotel Acatlan:  Second Day, from the Moving Focus series," 1985 by David Hockney, born 1937, England, works in Hollywood.  Color lithograph.

Roamings Around So Cal

My friend Chris and I enjoyed lunch and a walk around Leimert Park in LA.  This included a visit to Papillion Gallery on Degnan Blvd.  The main exhibit was "Remember Paradise" by Lakwena Maciver who has an instinct for adornment of people, objects and spaces using text and image with a kaleidoscope of colors.  Here are some of what we saw:

 

We then walked over to the Art + Practice new art and social service organization on Leimert.  This new organization was created by Mark Bradford, artist, Eileen Harris Norton, philanthropist, Allan Di Castro, social activist, the Hammer Museum and The James Irvine Foundation..  It serves as a gallery, and outreach program for youth. 

 

The current exhibit is entitled "Charles Gaines: Librettos: Manuel De Falla/Stokely Carmichael."  The brocure states that the artist is employing a system-based conceptualism that Gaines has long embraced, this new 16-part body of work brings together the early 20th-century opera "La Vida Breve" by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla and a fiery 1967 speech by the civil rights activist and Black Panther Party member Stokely Carmichael. These are dated in September 2015.  They are printed in-stained paper and lightjet print on acrylic. 

 

Here are a couple photos of the works:

 

 

 

Roaming L.A. Art with Doug

My friend Doug visited for a week and we explored L.A. including several art museums and even a concert.  Here is some of what we appreciated:

One of our first stops was beautiful downtown Glendora on Tuesday to revisit our previous homes and to have some rhubarb pie at the Vault.  Then we were off to Claremont to visit the Pomona College Campus and their Art Museum.

"Abolition," 2014 by Sue Coe, U.K. 1951-
The description states that Sue Coe embodies the concept of art as activism...her poignant etchings and drawings reveal harsh realities through graphic imagery.

 "Blade Runner:  Painter of Light," 2014 by Brenna Youngblood

 "The Benevolent and the Malevolent," 2004 by Brenna Youngblood

 "Hidden City," 2014 by Brenna Youngblood

These next works are by Mirella Bentivoglio from 1966 to 2012.  The description states that pages are literally and figuratively at the heart of the work of the Italian artist who was born in 1922.  It goes on to state that she also reads the urban landscape as a page, the bridges and monuments and buildings as semiotic signs that create narratives of power and privilege.

 "Transitory/Durable," with Regina Silveira, 2002, plastic, wood, book.

 "Anatomy of the Left Arm of the Statue of Liberty," 1992, Photomechanical print on paper

 "Plants in Plan in a Plant in Pan," 1979

 "E = Conjunction," 1973, Serigraph on paper

 "E Combinations," 1977/2014

 The beautiful fountain outside the museum.

 With "Prometheus," 1930 by Jose Clemente Orozco, Mexico

The description states that this fresco is one of the treasures of Pomona College and that painting it was Orozo;s first work ad the first Mexican mural in the U.S.  He is hailed as one of the three great Mexican muralists.  The others being Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.  The idea for the mural was suggested by the architect of Frary Hall, Summer Spaulding shortly after the building was completed. Prometheus is shown stealing fire from the Greek Gods to give to mankind...a symbol of wisdom and enlightenment.  Since it is in the dining all of Pomona College, it has inspired students daily for decades. The photos below show the side panels.

The next photos are of paintings appreciated at the Huntington Library, Gardens and Museum on Wednesday.  These are from the American Art Virginia Steele Scott collection.

 "The Butcher Shop," 1940 by Alexander Zerdin Kruse, 1888-1972

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 "McSorley's Cats," 1929 by John Sloan, 1871-1951

 "The Boxing Match," 1910 by George Luks, 1867-1933

 "The Breaker Boys," 1925 by Beorge Luks

 "A Foothill Trail," 1919 by Granvile Redmond, 1871-1935

"The Oak," 1916 by Guy Rose, 1867-1925

The next drawings were viewed on Thursday at the Wallis Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.  They were part of a series of paintings entitled Playtime. They are by Heather Lowe and show "a view of consecutive motion as individual pictures that combine to reveal the interplay of shape and intersection of line, according to the viewer's position."

The stage was full as the Los Angeles Philharmonic awaited the arrival of conductor Gustavo Dudamel to play John Adams "City Noir."  There were 7 percussionists, a Celeste player, piano player and two harpists. This was followed by Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ("From the New World").  It was a grand night that was met by a standing ovation which led to a bonus performance of a Hungarian Dance.

The next paintings were seen at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena during Art Night on Friday.  These are paintings by Charles Irvin, Kathryn Arledge and Jim Shaw are in an exhibit entitled "The Making of Person Theory:  Mysticism and Metaphysics."  The brochure states that the exhibition that takes notions of "the mystical" as an entry point to consider daily encounters that are marked with eccentricity, the surreal and the dream-like passage of time.

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"Sat Yam," 2013 by Charles Irvin, oil on canvas

"Model of Consciousness," 2006 by Charles Irvin

"Cryptic Response," 2014 by Charles Irvin

 "Blue Mask," 2014 by Charles Irvin

 "Untitled (abstract woman, baby inside)," 1969 by Sara Kathryn Arledge, watercolor on paper.


And From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Saturday:

 

 "Valley of the Seine, Giverny," 1887 by Theodore Robinson, United States, 1852-1896

"Blue and Coral:  The Little Blue Bonnet," 1898 by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, United States 1834-1903.

Our roamings also included a chicken dinner with Boysenberry Pie at Knott's Berry Farm, a visit to the beach, a walk around the Getty Villa and it's antiquities, Olvera Street, Hollywood, and a huge painting of the Crucifixion  and the Last Supper stained glass window at the Forest Lawn Cementery in Glendale.  Our last supper was at the In and Out via Uber.  It was a great week!  Thanks Doug.