19th-21st Century American Pacific Coast Painting: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington
Articles and essays from Resource Library in chronological order:
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
Click here for more articles and essays on this subject published in:
See Resource Library's Sources of News Articles Indexed by State within the United States, for hundreds of articles and essays indexed by sources including art museums and art centers in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Links to to sources websites are included.
and also from the Web:
Google announced in 2004 a collaboration with institutional libraries to digitize large quantities of books: the Google Books Library Project. Public domain books are available on an open access basis. Copyrighted material is treated in one of three ways. Google negotiates with cooperating publishers through its Google Books Partner Program for "Limited Preview" of entire pages or sections within books by readers. For scanned books without copyright permissions, "snippets" are available. For remaining books basic information is provided without ability to search within the book. The snippets inform readers about the relevance of the book to their subject of inquiry.
In and Out of California: Travels of American Impressionists,
By Deborah Epstein Solon, Will South. 151 pages. ISBN:1555952259. Note:
Google Books offers a Limited Preview
of this book including biographies of the artists. For
more information on this and other digitizing initiatives from publishers
please click here and
here.(right: front
cover, In and Out of California: Travels of American Impressionists,
image courtesy Google Books)
See these online videos:
The Richard
L. Nelson Gallery & The Fine Arts Collection web site features a
panel discussion video is available for download from the Archive
page of the Richard L. Nelson
Gallery & The Fine Arts Collection website. The "You See: Manuel
Neri, Wayne Thiebaud and William T. Wiley" panel discussion was held
November 13, 2007 at the Studio Theatre at the Mondavi Center, UC Davis,
Moderated by Michael Schwager, curator of the di Rosa Preserve.
Milford
Zornes.is the subject of a 3-minute video by Bill Anderson of Anderson
Art Gallery in which he familiarizes the viewer in this short video with
the works for the 99-year-old artist, Milford Zornes.
Otis College presents
the series: Otis Legacy Project: Interviews of Distinguished Otis Alumni.
Milford Zornes
attended Otis in 1927. He became a famous California water colorist. Milford
was interviewed by Otis students in November 2007. He passed away in January,
2008. [4:45] Text from Otis College.
TFAO suggests these books:
60 California art books including:
Art of the Gold Rush, By Janice Tolhurst Driesbach, Harvey Jones,
Katherine Church Holland, Oakland Museum, Crocker Art Museum, National Museum
of American Art (U.S.). 
Published 1998 by University
of California Press. Art, American / California/ 19th century/ Exhibitions.
168 pages. ISBN:0520214315. Google Books says: "The California Gold
Rush captured the get-rich dreams of people around the world more completely
than almost any event in American history. This catalog, published in celebration
of the sesquicentennial of the 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill,
shows the vitality of the arts in the Golden State during the latter nineteenth
century and documents the dramatic impact of the Gold Rush on the American
imagination.Among the throngs of gold-seekers in California were artists,
many self-taught, others formally trained, and their arrival produced an
outpouring of artistic works that provide insights into Gold Rush events,
personages, and attitudes. The best-known painting of the Gold Rush era,
C.C. Nahl's Sunday Morning in the Mines (1872), was created nearly two decades
after gold fever had subsided. By then the Gold Rush's mythic qualities
were well established, and new allegories--particularly the American belief
in the rewards of hard work and enterprise--can be seen on Nahl's canvas.
Other works added to the image of California as a destination for ambitious
dreamers, an image that prevails to this day. In bringing together a range
of art and archival material such as artists' diaries and contemporary newspaper
articles, The Art of the Gold Rush broadens our understanding of American
culture during a memorable period in the nation's history." Note: Google Books offers a Limited Preview
of this book. For more information on this and other digitizing initiatives
from publishers please click
here and here.
(right: catalogue front cover courtesy Google Books)
California Art: 450 Years of Painting & Other Media, by Nancy Dustin Wall Moure. 560 pages. Publisher: Dustin Publications; 1 edition (November 15, 1998). ISBN-10: 0961462248. ISBN-13: 978-0961462246 Amazon.com says of this book from Library Journal:
California Impressionism, By William H. Gerdts
and Will South, Published 1998, ISBN: 978-0-7892-0176-8. (online book excerpt
from Abbeville Press) (left: catalogue
front cover courtesy Abbeville Press)
California Impressionists, By Susan Landauer, Donald D. Keyes, Jean Stern, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, Georgia Museum of Art, Irvine Museum. Published 1996 by University of California Press. Impressionism (Art )/ California, Southern / Exhibitions. 103 pages. ISBN:0915977257. Google Books says: "The years around the turn of the century were a dynamic time in American art. Different and seemingly contradictory movements were evolving, and the dominant style that emerged during this period was Impressionism. Based in part on the broken brushwork and high-keyed palette of Claude Monet, it was a form especially suited to the dramatic landscape and shimmering light of California. American Impressionism grew in popularity as artists from across the nation migrated to the Golden State. There they created a remarkable style, often referred to as California plein-air painting, combining several aspects of American and European art and capturing the brilliant mix of color and light that defined California.This book celebrates forty Impressionist painters who worked in California from 1900 through the beginning of the Great Depression. A joint effort of The Irvine Museum and the Georgia Museum of Art, it includes widely recognized California artists such as Maurice Braun and Guy Rose, less well known artists such as Mary DeNeale Morgan and Donna Schuster, and eastern painters who worked briefly in the region, such as Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase.The contributors' essays examine the socioeconomic forces that shaped this art movement, as well as the ways in which the art reflected California's self-cultivated image as a healthful, sun-splashed arcadia. Beautifully illustrated, with 72 full-color plates, California Impressionists recreates the vibrant splendor of a unique period in American art." Note: Google Books offers a Limited Preview of this book. For more information on this and other digitizing initiatives from publishers please click here and here.
The Not-so-still Life: A Century of California Painting and Sculpture,
By Susan Landauer, William Gerdts, Patricia Trenton, San Jose Museum of
Art. Published 2003 by University of 
California Press.
Still-life in art / Exhibitions. 237 pages. ISBN:0520239385. Google Books
says: "As E. H. Gombrich once observed, the still life is compelled
to challenge and at the same time perpetuate tradition. Without the elements
of recognition and comparison, and the discovery of the familiar in the
unfamiliar, the genre would lose most of its meaning. This lavishly illustrated
volume documents the extraordinary challenges that artists in California
have brought to the tradition of the still life as they have transformed
and revitalized the genre over the course of the last century. In abundantly
illustrated essays, as entertaining as they are informative, The Not-So-Still
Life traces the great variety of media and forms these artists have engaged
as they have moved the still life not just off the table, but off the wall
and into three dimensions. Susan Landauer, William H. Gerdts, and Patricia
Trenton investigate a range of forces and influences--whether historical,
sociological, economic, psychological, or biographical--that have played
into this evolution, from the plein-air Impressionism of the early twentieth
century to the Synchromist bouquets of Stanton Macdonald-Wright, the revolving
table settings of Charles Ray, and the electronic sculptures of Alan Rath.
In doing so they deepen our understanding of American art over the last
century.Presenting, interpreting, and celebrating the world-renowned and
the lesser-known California artists who have uniquely defined and redefined
the still life, this volume offers an exploration of the sensual pleasures,
the aesthetic challenges, and the intellectual and perceptual associations
of a century of art through the prism of a single genre." Note: Google Books offers a Limited Preview
of this book. For more information on this and other digitizing initiatives
from publishers please click
here and here.
(right: catalogue front cover courtesy Google Books)
Publications in Southern California Art 1, 2 and 3, by Nancy Dustin Wall Moure
Publications in Southern California Art 4, 5, 6 and 7, by Nancy Dustin Wall Moure
Publications in Southern California Art 8, 9, 10, by Nancy Dustin Wall Moure
and:
Artists of the Pacific Northwest: A Biographical Dictionary, 1600s-1970, By Maria Sharylen. Published 1993 by McFarland. Artists/ Northwest, Pacific / Biography / Dictionaries. 252 pages. ISBN:0899507972. Original from the University of California. Digitized Nov 28, 2006.
TFAO suggests these DVD or VHS videos:
Behind the Scenes with Wayne Thiebaud is a 30
minute 1992 video released by First Run Features based on a series by PBS.
Follows American painter Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920) as he uses drawing to
expand children's understanding of line from simple outline to its creation
of volume, shape, feeling, and movement.
Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman is a 2006 DVD produced by Jeff Kaufman. "With epic scope, intense romance, a stellar cast of characters, and stunning artwork, Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman brings alive an extraordinary man in a passionate trek through a turbulent century of art, politics, struggle, and hope... With interviews and locations filmed in High Definition, an impressive array of archival footage, and hundreds of photographs and paintings, Brush With Life moves from a classic American immigrant saga, to youthful artistic discovery, a growing commitment to social justice, patriotic home-front service during World War Two, McCarthy-era repression and heroics (Edward's murals were investigated for "subversive content" and his brother, director Herbert Biberman, went to prison as one of The Hollywood Ten), an inspiring commitment to family in trying times, and into a protean period of creative development that still dazzles... With its grand sweep, rich personalities, and vast array of breathtaking paintings, Brush With Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman builds a deep connection to a man who lived by the same high standard he set for his paintings. It's an unforgettable journey, an overdue tribute to an unjustly unsung artist, and a rare glimpse into the heart of a deeply humane man." text courtesy of edwardbiberman.com
California Missions #110 - ART OF THE MISSIONS is a 28 minute 2000 video by Huell Howser Productions. "Over the years countless artists have depicted the California Missions in drawings, paintings, etchings and photographs. Huell visits the Huntington Library, which has one of the largest collections of Mission art in the world. We'll also visit Luis Tur, who has made 19 of the 21 Mission models using nothing but pieces of junk." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
California's Green #125 - SANTA BARBARA ARTISTS is a 28 minute 2006 video by Huell Howser Productions. "Some people talk about the environment. Others actually do something proactive about it... Like the group of 26 Santa Barbara artists who founded the Outdoor Airing Club more than 20 years ago. The O.A.K. Group, as it is known, is made up of artists who paint magnificent, unspoiled open spaces threatened by development. They then sell these art pieces at a special auction with 50 percent of the profits going to organizations in Santa Barbara County working to preserve our precious and unfortunately disappearing open, natural, landscape... Huell spends a day with some O.A.K. Group members as they painted in three different spectacular locales, and then attends the auction several months later. The resulting episode of California's Green is not only beautiful, bit inspirational as it shows how important a small but dedicated group of people who really care can be." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Chihuly DVD Collection is a 4-disc boxed set
released in 2004, produced by the Museum of Glass. Each DVD is 60 minutes
with an additional 30 minutes of special features. The videos explore the
relationship of nature and glass as Chihuly and his team work in a variety
of outdoor locations, and then install glass among the lush flora at Chicago's
Garfield Park Conservatory. A comprehensive collection, the Chihuly DVD
Collection is a globe-trotting adventure that leads to greater understanding
of the man and his art. ASIN: B0000D1FJH.
Chihuly In Charlotte is a 2000 video directed
by Stuart Grasberg and produced by WTVI, Charlotte Public Television..
Chihuly Over Venice is a 1998 PBS Home Video released by Home Vision Entertainment. The planning and realization of an ambitious project by renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly is documented in this absorbing PBS presentation. Chihuly collaborated with master glassblowers from four countries to achieve his collection of spectacular chandeliers for public display over the canals of Venice. From Finland to Ireland to Mexico to Italy, Chlhuly and the participatlng artisans join together for a creative 90 minute odyssey.
Ed Ruscha is the taping of a June 29, 2000 lecture by the artist at the Hirshhorn Museum. The Hirshhorn Museum Library's web page contains a video clip from the lecture.
Guy Rose: American Impressionist, by Robert Boudreaux,
produced in conjunction with the retrospective exhibition in 1995 by The
Oakland Museum of California and The Irvine Museum. The video is 26 minutes
in length and is available from the sponsoring museums. Available through
the Irvine Museum.
Impressions of California: Currents in Art 1850-1930.
The Irvine Museum collaborated in the filming of this KOCE public television
documentary video, produced by Paul Bockhorst, consisting of four 1/2 hour
television programs totaling 112 minutes. Available through the Irvine Museum.
The Wildling Museum says: "This landmark public television series, produced by KOCE TV Foundation in 1996, documents the story of California art from statehood in 1850 to the beginning of the Depression in 1930. The narration, illustrated by original works of art from many California museums, features interviews with respected art historians, Bill Gerdts, Wanda Corn, Harvey Jones, and Jean Stern among others. Each program lasts 28 minutes.
Milford Zornes, Watercolor Master, is a 2003 production of Erickson-Zapata Productions. Pomona College Alumni News says of the video:
Milford Zornes, Watercolor Master is available through Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA. 626-568-3665. http://www.pmcaonline.org/
Milford Zornes: A Life of Canvas, is an independent film on the life of California painter Milford Zornes, which premiered in September 2000. Screenplay by Sharon Dymmel who is an award-winning screenwriter for both the feature film and television broadcast industries.
Plein Air: Painting the
American Landscape episodes take the viewer on a journey, from Cape
Cod, where the Atlantic meets the land, to the peak of 
Denali, the "Great
One," North America's tallest mountain. Other episodes feature the
Tongass Rain Forest; Seward, Alaska; Taos, New Mexico; Trinidad, Colorado;
and central Michigan.
Plein air artists featured in the series include Matt Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona; Kenn Backhaus of Robesonia, Pennsylvania; Jean LeGassick of Silver City, Nevada; Connecticut artist Charles Sovek; Utah artist Ron Rencher; and Frank LaLumia of Trinidad, Colorado. Episodes features one or two of the contemporary plein air painters and examine their technique plus history of the plein air genre. Plein Air: Painting the American Landscape appeals to art lovers and outdoor enthusiasts alike and helps viewers to understand America's own naturalist art form.
For more than a century, a unique group of American artists ventured out of their studios to capture the essence of the American landscape. Some learned their craft from the French Impressionists, others through trial and error. What unites them is their dedication to the interplay of land, water and sky, and the study of how light, shadow and color form the varied and rich masks of the natural world.
This six-part series premiered in August 2007 on PBS and was presented in high definition. Underwriters for the series are Rasmuson Foundation and Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R. Clarke Foundation. The producer is Greg Bombeck of Bombeck Productions and the PBS presenter is KTOO Juneau. DVDs are available through Bombeck Productions, LLC, 18016 Kamkoff Ave., P.O. Box 770302, Eagle River, AK 99577.
Time Captured in Paintings: The Monterey Legacy
was released by the Monterey Museum of Art which tells the story of Monterey's
art colony, including artists Armin Hansen, E. Charlton Fortune, Henrietta
Shore, William Ritschel, Gottardo Piazzoni, Xavier Martinez, and others.
Jack Lemmon narrates this 28 minute 1991 presentation by Steve Rosen and
Terri DeBono. From the arrival of French painter Gaspard Duche de Vancy
in 1786, to the thriving creative community of today, this video demonstrates
the wide variety of art inspired by the region.
Visions of California: The Story of California Scene Painting, produced by Paul Bockhorst for KOCE Public Television in collaboration with The Irvine Museum, is the 1994 story of California Scene Painting 1925-1950. Bockhorst, working with scores of collectors and dozens of institutions and museums nationwide, has created a three-part series of artistic delight and intellectual insight that features almost 150 works of art. Each part is 28 minutes in length with a total viewing time of 84 minutes. Available through the Irvine Museum.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #404 - ARTISTS is a 28 minute 1996 video in which "Huell visits with Milford Zornes and Guillermo Bert, two L.A. artists with very different styles. We'll go to both artists studios and get a peak at their work." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #1505 - DIORAMA is a 28 minute DVD/VHS video in which "Huell visits the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to discover the history of its famous animal dioramas... A visit with Robert Reid who has been the resident artist for 20 years at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum and the man responsible for creating all of the beautiful dioramas. From deserts to beaches, Robert captures the natural beauty with his paint brushes. Robert works closely with Tim Bovard who is the Taxidermist and the man responsible for making all those animals look so lifelike. Together, they make a unique team." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #726 - GARDENA ART is a 28 minute 1999 video by Huell Howser Productions. "Beginning in 1919, the graduating classes of Gardena High School bestowed gifts of paintings upon their beloved school. This program lasted until 1956, and amassed more than 90 works. Soon after the program ended, many of the paintings were stored away and forgotten about. Along with several Gardena High School Alumni, Huell visits the Irvine Museum to see an exhibit of 31 fully-restored paintings from this important collection." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #1005 - MOSAICS is a 28 minute 2002 video by Huell Howser Productions. "You've seen his work all across the Southland. Meet Denis O'Connor master mosaic artist, who has created some of the largest and most amazing mosaics in America." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #738 - MURALS is a 28 minute video by Huell Howser Productions. "Huell visits a local elementary school to join a group of 5th graders on a field trip to some of LA's many murals. Along for the ride is the artists himself to discuss his art with the children. All in all it's a great LA day!" Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #911 - PANORAMA is a 28 minute 2007 video by Huell Howser Productions. "Sara Velas is an artist with one passion--panoramas. On a drive through Hollywood, Velas looked past the round, kitschy, South Pacific design of the building at 5553 Hollywood Boulevard, and saw the perfect rotunda for a panorama. Velas shares her knowledge of this popular Victorian art form with Huell, as well as her inspired painting of the Los Angeles basin housed inside the Tswuun Tswuun Rotunda." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
Visiting...With Huell Howser #109 - WATTS TOUR is a 28 minute video by Huell Howser Productions. "Ride with members of the Los Angeles Conservancy on the Blue Line to the Watts Towers where they are met by young docents who conduct an inspiring tour of the Watts Towers Art Center." Text courtesy of Huell Howser Productions.
William Keith: The Artist and His Times, is a 1995 video running
23 minutes and features images from the St. Mary's College Collection. 
A Studio Miramar Production.
The Gallery web site says of the video: "When William Keith arrives
in California in 1859, he begins a fifty-year artistic and emotional journey.
His early paintings strive to capture the drama of the Western wilderness.
But by the 1890s, Keith paints subtle, intimate landscapes that reveal his
artistic and spiritual maturity. In this documentary, more than fifty of
Keith's paintings show the range of his artistic vision. Historic photographs,
footage of California scenes today, and the words of the artist, his friend
John Muir, and their contemporaries help tell the story of this remarkable
artist and his times." The Gallery's description adds: "Studio
Miramar has remastered our excellent video, 'William Keith: The Artist and
His Times,' into dvd format. An important addition to the library of works
about the late 19th century master artist, the comprehensive, educational
and entertaining presentation juxtaposes rare archival photographs with
spectacular contemporary footage of the Western wilderness, extensive presentation
of Keith's paintings, and the words of John Muir, Keith, and others."
(right: VHS video cover)
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