California Paintings, California Pride at the Mills College Art Museum

by Shauna Laurel Jones

Whether you're California born-and-bred or a more recent transplant, California Paintings 1910 1940: Selections from the Mills College Art Museum is a feast for the senses that will also augment your appreciation of California history. Curated by Ann Harlow, this array of oil and watercolor paintings, from lush green and gold Northern Californian landscapes to Beaux Arts-style portraits, features many of the state's most prominent and talented artists of the early 20th century as well as lesser-known but equally gifted painters.

Throughout the '20s and '30s, the San Francisco Bay Area enjoyed a period of dynamic development in the arts, with the openings of a number of museums and arts organizations, including the Legion of Honor, the de Young Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Art, as well as the Mills College Art Gallery in 1925. Public interest in art exhibitions blossomed, and commercial galleries flourished in San Francisco and the East Bay.

Albert M. Bender, a local patron and philanthropist for the arts, was a leader in the contemporary art world and was instrumental in acquiring a number of works for the Mills College Art Museum. His cousin, Ann Bremer, was considered one of the finest San Francisco artists of the time, and the California Paintings exhibition highlights three of her strongest pieces.

Like Bremer, many of the California artists featured in the exhibition were trained in Paris and returned home to paint in a style considered progressive and modern but not radical like the Cubists or Abstract Expressionists. The resulting works can perhaps best be described as post-Impressionist; the colors are muted and expressive, the brushstrokes loose and energetic, the perspective flattened. All the paintings in the exhibition are warm, intimate, and accessible to audiences of all ages and tastes.

California Paintings 1910 1940 is on view through March 6, as is a second exhibition celebrating the sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Mills from the Mills College Library Archives. Finally, Desolation Sound features the watercolor landscapes of contemporary artist Bhaskar Krag through February 2. Museum hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.; closed Monday. Admission is free.

The Fine Arts Division at Mills College welcomes participation from the Oakland community. For more information on events, to schedule a group gallery tour, or to join our e-mail list, please contact Shauna Jones, Oakland Community Publicist, at 430-2252, or shjones\@mills.edu. For a complete calendar of events, visit www.mills.edu/artsevents. We hope to see you in the gallery soon.