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| Irving Norman, Covering the News, 1943. Graphite. Gift of the Hilbert Collection |
The website for the
Hilbert Museum of California Art now has
a searchable database of the collection, some 1242 objects, centering on works on paper by American Scene painters active in California. Not everything fits that description. Here are a few surprises.
At top of post is a deliriously detailed drawing by the socially conscious satirist Irving Norman (1906-1989). Born in Lithuania, Norman's career spanned New York, Los Angeles, Catalina Island, and San Francisco. He took the claustrophobia of George Tooker's urban scenes in a proletariat-forward sci-fi direction.
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| Salomón Huerta, David Bowie, 1980s. Watercolor. Gift of the Hilbert Collection |
The Hilbert isn't known for contemporary art, but it's got an early watercolor by Salomón Huerta (of David Bowie, no less) and several paintings and works on paper by Frank Romero.
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| Frank Romero, Still Life with Gun, Flowers, and Cat, 2000. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Hilbert Collection |
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| Edna Reindel, End of Summer, 1945. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Hilbert Collection |
Edna Reindel called herself a "psycho-realist" and painted portraits of Hollywood stars.
End of Summer was made the year of
Spellbound, Hitchcock's collaboration with Dalí, and shows wartime America's fascination with surrealism.
I'm not aware of any California connection for cartoonist James Thurber. The Hilbert has a version of one of his most famous cartoons ("Alright, have it your way. You heard a seal bark.") It postdates the 1932 New Yorker cartoon and appears to be a replica made for a collector.
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| James Thurber, Alright, have it your way, 1937. Wax crayon. Gift of Michael J. Rivard and Carol Susan Rivard |
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Comments
Just because the Hilbert Museum (Chapman) classifies the objects as "American Scene" does not make the objects collectible or worthy of a museum.
The collection is a joke and no attempt to periodize the objects is going to change that.
... To put this all in perspective, the College museum with arguably the preeminent collection in American art does NOT have a gallery dedicated to "American Scene" Painting. After 1900, it shows American artists in its Modern and Contemporary Galleries.
Matthew Barney, the artist, went there. 1989 was a good year.
Catherine Opie taught there.
Though I don't think they (Barney and Opie) met and became friends until they started showing with the same gallery in LA (Regen Projects).
Curiously, both have an interest in football.
Opie has photographed youth football players.
Barney was recruited to play QB at this college.
His most recent work reflects on the violence in the sport.
--- J. Garcin