User:Mathglot/sandbox/Test pages/California Scene Painting

California Scene painting is a style of representational painting which arose in California in the 1930s as an outgrowth of American Scene painting.

Terminology

The term California Scene Painting was first used by Los Angeles art critic Arthur Miller. It is sometimes also referred to as California Scene art

Gordon T McClelland described California Scene Painting as "works that include people or evidence of humanity through the inclusion of manmade objects and structures. Automobiles, trains, barns, roadways, fences and coastline piers are among key elements that serve as markers to define works as California Scene Paintings."

"representational art that captured scenes of everyday life in California." from pcmca-2014.

History

Background

California Scene painting arose in the context of the broader American art movement known as American Scene painting or Regionalism that became popular in the United States starting in the 1920s. Regionalist painters chose to paint scenes of rural life. Activity was centered in the Midwestern United States, including the best known exponents of Regionalism, Grant Wood in Iowa, Thomas Hart Benton in Missouri, and John Steuart Curry in Kansas. Regionalist art was widely appreciated for its reassuring images of the American heartland. There is a sense of nationalism and romanticism in American scene painting in its depiction of everyday American life in rural areas, small towns, and cities, some simply a romantic yearning for a return to a simpler time before industrialization while others employed art as a political statement for social causes.

These effects and influences were felt in California as well, which soon sported a home-grown version stemming out of southern California and soon spreading to San Francisco as well, and depicting the lush and varied California landscape and coastline, as well as its urban settings. This did not have much impact at first outside California, and was mostly ignored until late in the 20th century.

Art schools

California Art Schools were highly influential in the development of the style, and were associated with all the major universities in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and some independent art schools as well. Young artists in the 1920s learned from art professors who had been educated in Europe or the East coast, and later became teachers in turn, passing on the skills to the next generation of artists. These schools included (Los Angeles:) the Art Center School (1930 Edward A. Adams), Chouinard Art Institute (1921, Norbert Chouinard), Otis Art Institute (1918 Harrison Gray Otis), UCLA, USC (1890s, William Lees Judson; 1926 Paul Sample) (Berkeley:) California College of Arts and Crafts, UCB. (Oakland:) Mills College (1851; 1940 William Gaw).

Beginnings

Southern California origins at Chouinard Art Institute.

California Scene Paintings, works that include people or evidence of human life via of man-made objects such as cars, trains, barns, freeways, coastline piers

American Scene painting influences included Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood.

Northern California

Developments in northern California in San Francisco and Berkeley. Social realism, and influence of Mexican muralist movement.

Paragraph from Social realism#Art movement:

"Also in Mexico was the Mexican muralist movement that took place primarily in the 1920s and 1930s; and was an inspiration to many artists north of the border and an important component of the social realism movement. The Mexican muralist movement is characterized by its political undertones, the majority of which are of a Marxist nature, and the social and political situation of post-revolutionary Mexico. Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, ..."

See Coit_Tower#Mural_project.

Artists

Key SoCal artists in the first period Millard Sheets, Phil Paradise, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Reginald Marsh, Ben Messick, Milford Zornes, Phil Dike, and Joan Irving.<ref=visions>"Visions of California: The Story of California Scene Painting". Bockhorst Productions. Monrovia CA: Paul Brockhurst Productions.</ref>

• Millard Sheets
• Phil Paradise
• Reginald Marsh (artist)
• Ben Messick
• Milford Zornes
• Phil Dike
• Joan Irving

Development of Regionalist art in California in the 1930s, including urban development, the Ashcan School, Modernism, and the art of Asia. It also examines the broad stylistic diversity found in both Southern and Northern California and discusses the way in which California Scene painters helped broaden the range and interpretation of landscape subjects in the West. Artists examined in this program include Rex Brandt, Emil Kosa, Jr., George Gibson, Palmer Schoppe, George Post, Lucien Labaudt, John Haley, Alexander Nepote, and Dong Kingman, among others.<ref=visions />

The major east coast exhibition (Philadelphia??) which brought California Scene painting to the attention of the American art world.

Regionalist artists from the 1930s

• Rex Brandt
• Emil Kosa
• George Gibson (artist)
• Palmer Schoppe
• George Post (painter)
• Lucien Labaudt
• John Haley
• Alexander Nepote
• Dong Kingman

Museums and collections

Holdings

Museums and collectors holding significant collections of American Scene painting (all locations in California, unless indicated):

• Chapman University, Orange - Millard Sheets, Emil Kosa Jr., Phil Dike, Paul Sample, Rex Brandt, Phil Paradise, Milford Zornes, Barse Miller and Dong Kingman https://blogs.chapman.edu/press-room/2014/11/10/hilbert-california-art/
• Edan Hughes - San Francisco collector
• Irvine Museum, Irvine http://www.irvinemuseum.org/ - specializes in California art of the Impressionist Period, and has held rotating exhibitions of Calfornia Scene painting
• Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Beach- Rex Brandt, et al. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mark-and-jan-hilbert-of-the-hilbert-collection-donate-rex-brandt-watercolor-to-laguna-college-of-art-and-design-permanent-collection-300033919.html
• Mark and Janet Hilbert collection, Newport Coast - private collectors and benefactors to many museums in this list
• Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena -

Major exhibitions

Major exhibitions of California Scene Painting include the Pasadena Museum of California Art in 2013, the Irvine Museum in 2014 curated by Gordon T. McClelland.

See also

A bulleted list, preferably alphabetized, of internal links to related Wikipedia articles.

References

Notes

Works cited

• Blake, Janet; Lovoos, Janice (October 1, 2001). Millard Sheets. A Collector's Vision. Wittenborn Art Books. ISBN 978-0815040439. 20 pages

• Larsen, Susan C.; Lovoos, Janice (1983). Millard Sheets: Six Decades of Painting (paperback). Laguna Beach CA: Laguna Beach Museum of Art. ISBN 0940872048. OCLC 9830888.

• Gordon McClelland; Jay T. Last (1985). The California Style: California Watercolor Artists, 1925-1955. Hillcrest Press. ISBN 978-0-914589-02-0. OCLC 1154563422.</ref>

• McClelland, Gordon T.; McClelland, Austin D (2013). California Scene Painting. Newport Beach, Calif.: The California Art: Information Center. ISBN 978-1616581084. OCLC 849671769.

• McClelland, Gordon; Last, Jay T. (June 1985). The California Style: California Watercolor Artists, 1925-1955 (First ed.). Beverly Hills: Hillcrest Press. ISBN 978-0-914589-02-0. OCLC 1154563422.

• Sheets, Millard; McClelland, Gordon T. (2010). Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944). Newport Beach CA: California Regionalist Art: Information Center. ISBN 978-1616581060. OCLC 567805766.

• Stern, Jean; Siple, Molly (2011). California Light: A Century of Landscapes : Paintings of the California Art Club. New York: Skira Rizzoli. ISBN 9780847836253.

• Westphal, Ruth Lilly; Dominik, Janet B (1991). American Scene Painting: California, 1930s and 1940s. Irvine, Calif.: Westphal Pub. ISBN 978-0961052034. OCLC 23691784.

Further reading

hub page for American Scene painting and regionalism: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/6aa/6aa127.htm

External links

• California Scene Museum of Art (CSMA) is an online museum that educates the public about the cultural value of California Scene painting
• 100 biographies of painters