Introduction
Exhibition Facts
Schedule
Images of Works
Essay - Regional Watercolors, 1930-1950


THE GOOD LIFE:
CALIFORNIA WATERCOLORS 1930-1950

This exhibition features a selection of California watercolors painted between 1930 and 1950. With the onset of the Great Depression, following the stock market crash of late 1929, a new generation of artists began to paint the "American Scene," a move toward portraying the mood of the country with its views of people coping with the hardships of the day. This shift in priorities, from the colorful and light-filled landscapes in the Impressionist manner characteristic of the period 1890-1925, to the somber and dark views of cities, farms and factories, reflected the true state of the American consciousness. At the same time, the younger generation of artists began to paint in watercolors, not as in its traditional role of being a study or sketch for oil paintings, but as an art form in itself. Watercolor became the chosen medium and the resultant paintings, done with broad, wet strokes of color, exhibited a strong and evocative presence, perfectly suited for the expressive character of the period. The exhibition which was originally presented at the Irvine Museum, Irvine, CA, features artists including Milford Zornes, Barse Miller, Frank Myers, Phil Dike, Millard Sheets, Rex Brandt, George Post Alexander Nepote, Emil Kosa, Jr., Virginia Huffman, Dong Kingman and others. The works come from the Mark and Janet Hilbert Collection of Southern California.


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Regional Watercolors, 1930-1950

By Gordon T. McClelland

 

In the 1920's Southern California experienced tremendous growth. The population of Los Angeles grew from one million people to over two million people by 1930. Building was at a frantic pace. Gas stations, train stations, restaurants, high-rise buildings, the Red Car transportation lines, the monumental City Hall building and elaborate movie theaters were among the many construction projects. During this same era the San Francisco region experienced similar growth. It was an exciting era for California, as these two regions grew into major metropolitan centers.

 

During this period, an inspired group of young artists began producing watercolor paintings, which pictorially captured what was happening around them. In Southern California the Chouinard Art Institute and the Art Center School were where much of the interaction between artists took place. In the Bay Area much of the watercolor painting activity centered around U.C. Berkeley and the California School of Art and Crafts.

Artists from both regions exhibited their watercolors in the California Water Color Society annual traveling shows and before long art critics throughout America began referring to this new art movement as the "California Style" or "California School" of watercolor painting. In more recent years, these watercolors have been referred to as "Regional Watercolors". To some degree these artists were rebelling against the established Plein Aire landscape painters that dominated the California art scene at the time. To help define this as a new art movement they largely ignored the untouched natural landscape subjects that were glorified by the Plein Aire artists. Instead they chose to express themselves artistically by using elements of cityscape and suburban scenes with people, cars, and buildings as subject matter for the works of art. In addition they often preferred to use watercolor on paper instead of oils on canvas, which further separated them from the old school of artists.

 

In the early part of the movement it's clear that many of the Northern California artists were influenced by modern art approaches, especially Geometric Abstraction. The Southern Californians focused on direct, spontaneous watercolor painting, done right on location. These differences added variety and excitement to the many museum exhibitions of this period.

 

World War II disrupted nearly everything on the West Coast as citizens from every occupation dropped what they were doing and focused on the war efforts. Some interesting watercolors of wartime activities were produced during this era, but for the most part art was not a high priority. After the war the California Water Color Society got back on track, the artists began painting again and the museum shows continued. By the mid 1950s radical abstract and non-objective painting had captured the art limelight. At the same time interest in California Style watercolor paintings gradually diminished. Fortunately many of the watercolor artists paid little attention to the decrease in attention and kept developing their personal styles of watercolor painting well into the 1970s and in some cases even longer. Often they continued to be inspired by cityscape subject matter. In recent years art collectors, art critics and museum curators have taken a fresh look at these art works and a revived interest and reevaluation in watercolors of this era is currently taking place.