California Scene Painting
{{short description|American regionalist art movement}}
File:San Fernando Mountains SAAM-1985.8.18 1.jpg, San Fernando Mountains, 1936, watercolor on paper, 15 3⁄8 x 22 5⁄8 in.]]
California Scene Painting, also known as Southern California Regionalism, is a form of American regionalist art depicting landscapes, places, and people of California. It flourished from the 1920s to the 1960s.
History
Early 20th century California artists interested in everyday images and themes from the state's 19th century history provided the foundation for the emergence of the regional genre of California Scene Painting. The term was attributed to Los Angeles art critic Arthur Millier,{{Cite web |last=McClelland |first=Gordon T. |date=June 20, 1013 |title=The Golden Age of California Scene Paintings |url=http://www.afanews.com/articles/item/1984-the-golden-age-of-california-scene-paintings#.XJQbpihKg2w |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190609214653/http://www.afanews.com/articles/item/1984-the-golden-age-of-california-scene-paintings#.XP1-Uy_P1qZ |archive-date=June 9, 2019 |access-date=March 21, 2019 |website=AFA News}} and it referred to watercolors, oil paintings and mosaics of landscapes and scenes of everyday life, such as mountain and coastal scenery, pastoral agricultural valleys, and dynamic cities and highways.
Varying in style and subject, California Scene Painting was influenced by a range of precursor styles, notably Impressionism (particularly California Impressionism), Cubism, and Realism.
California artists impacted the American Scene movement by contributing paintings that reflect their state's unique subject matter and made advances in watercolor technique. The majority of California Scene paintings were done in watercolor. In the late 1920s some California painters, who studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, began working in what would be known as the California Style distinguished by large size paper, strong vibrant colors, vigorous bold and broad brushwork.{{Cite journal |date=February 2004 |title=National Academy Shows California Watercolors |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=12151264&site=eds-live&scope=site |journal=Art Business News |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=118 |via=Wikipedia Library}} At the time most artists working in watercolor used it as a sketching medium or to color pencil drawings. California Scene artists used watercolor as a painting medium, painted wet-on-wet and in larger formats.{{Cite web |last=Bose |first=Lilledeshan |date=April 29, 2014 |title=On the Scene: California Landscape Paintings |url=https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/on-the-scene-california-landscape-paintings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620141708/https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/on-the-scene-california-landscape-paintings |archive-date=June 20, 2024 |access-date=April 15, 2025 |website=PBS SoCal}} Watercolor allowed for opportunistic and spontaneous painting of scenes done on location reflecting California life.{{Cite book |last=Moure |first=Nancy D. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/scenesofcaliforn0000unse/page/12/mode/2up |title=Scenes of California life, 1930-1950 : Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University, Bakersfield, March 9-April 10, 1991 |publisher=Dorian Society, California State University |year=1991 |isbn=0962907006 |location=Bakersfield, CA |pages=13, 15}}
Subject matter
File:Tenement Flats SAAM-1965.18.48 1.jpg,Tenement Flats, 1933-1934. Oil on canvas, 40 1⁄4 x 50 1⁄4 in. (102.1 x 127.6 cm.)]]
Figurative California Scene paintings documented the life of the average American and their hard work, both manual labor and domestic housework. Landscape paintings showed California's scenic beauty, its beaches, deserts, mountains and rolling farmlands. Landscapes focusing on farms and farmers were a testament to hard work and resilience. In the 1930s California was primarily agricultural and farms were considered the backbone of the American economy. Artists painted subjects of California coastal life, scenes around San Francisco Bay, Monterey's fishing industry and cliffs along the southern coastline. Yacht harbors, fishing boats, beach life, stevedores and San Diego Navy men were included. Cityscapes of Los Angeles showed street scenes, panoramic views, tenements and buildings. San Francisco painters depicted views of the peninsula with the bridges and Alcatraz, scenes along the docks and houses on hillsides.{{Cite book |last=Moure |first=Nancy D. W. |url=https://archive.org/details/scenesofcaliforn0000unse/page/12/mode/2up |title=Scenes of California life, 1930-1950 : Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University, Bakersfield, March 9-April 10, 1991 |publisher=Dorian Society, California State University |year=1991 |isbn=0962907006 |location=Bakersfield, CA |pages=15-18}} California Scene paintings portray everyday life tracing California's physical, social and cultural evolution from the Great Depression and World War II to the post-War era of accelerated development.{{Cite web |last=Mann |first=Beverly |date=February 12, 2013 |title=Los Angeles arts scene: What’s coming in 2013 |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/02/12/los-angeles-arts-scene-whats-coming-in-2013/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208053935/https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/02/12/los-angeles-arts-scene-whats-coming-in-2013/ |archive-date=December 8, 2024 |access-date=April 13, 2025 |website=The Mercury News |publisher=Bay Area News Group}}{{Cite web |last=Heffley |first=Lynne |date=March 27, 2013 |title='California Scene Paintings from 1930 to 1960' on exhibit at PMCA |url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2013-03-27-pasadena-0327-california-scene-paintings-from-1930-to-1960-on-exhibit-at-pmca-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331060113/https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2013-03-27-pasadena-0327-california-scene-paintings-from-1930-to-1960-on-exhibit-at-pmca-story.html |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |access-date=April 13, 2025 |website=Los Angeles Times Glendale News-Press}}
Notable artists
Notable California Scene painters included Emil Kosa Jr., Roger Edward Kuntz, Millard Sheets, Milford Zornes, Phil Dike, Rex Brandt, Phil Paradise, Elsie Palmer Payne, George Post, Elsie Lower Pomeroy, Barse Miller, Paul Sample, Dong Kingman, Anders Aldrin, and Charles Payzant. One group — including Sheets, Dike, Brandt, Miller, Zornes, and Kosa, Jr. — worked in large-scale watercolors.
See also
References
{{reflist|refs=
Stern, Jean, and Molly Siple. California Light: A Century of Landscapes, 2011.
Brown, Michael D. Views from Asian California, 1920–1965, 1992.
{{Cite web |date=April 15, 2013 |title=California Scene Paintings From 1930 To 1960 On View At Pasadena Museum of California Art |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/california-scene-paintings-from-1930-1960-pasadena-museum-of-california-art_n_3084698 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250415095318/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/california-scene-paintings-from-1930-1960-pasadena-museum-of-california-art_n_3084698 |archive-date=April 15, 2025 |access-date=January 31, 2018 |website=HuffPost}}
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Further reading
- McClelland, Gordon T., and Austin D. McClelland (2013). California Scene Painting ({{ISBN|9781616581084}})
{{Western art movements}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:California scene painting}}
Category:1920s establishments in California
Category:1960s disestablishments in California
Category:American art movements