| THE CALIFORNIA WATER COLOR SOCIETY Genesis of an American Style, by Janet Blake Dominik |
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| "Brassy Day," 1939 Millard Sheets (1907-1989) Watercolor, 14-5/8 x 22-1/2 |
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| "Flophouse Taxi," 1938 Phil Paradise (1905-1980) Watercolor, 14.5 x 18 |
| "Rincon Hill Area," 1945, George Post (1906-1997) Watercolor, 15 x 20 |
| "Circus Barker," c1940 Ben Messick (1891-1981) Watercolor, 15 x 18-1/8 |
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| "Downtown L.A.," 1939 Milford Zornes (1908- ) Watercolor, 16.5 x 14.5 |
| During the 1930s, at a time when the the focus of American art was on the American scene, a group of California watercolorists brought themselves and the state of California unprecedented attention in the national art arena. As a champion of the state's watercolor painters since 1926, the year he began reviewing their exhibitions, Los Angeles Times art critic Arthur Millier watched the group develop a strong and distinctive style and growing stature on the exhibition circuit. In 1958 he recalled that the nation's art observers began to take notice of this un-ique group of artists around I929 and within a few years started referring to them as the "California Watercolor School," bes-towing upon them critical acclaim for their revolutionary use of the medium. The originator of this movement, Millier declared, was Millard Sheets, and the California Water Color Society, its vehicle. An insightful and articulate critic, Millier's observations were indeed valid. During the period between 1929 and 1948, the acti-vities of the members of the California Water Color Society, both in their group showings, and as individuals, brought con-siderable favorable critical attention. The movement propelled the society into the national spotlight, and it became one of the two great watercolor groups in the United States, the other being the New York based American Watercolor Society. An interest in the local scene as an appropriate and worthy sub-ject matter for the artist was encouraged during the late 1920s, in some ways as a reaction to modernism, which was identified as foreign. Critics, such as Thomas Craven, who defended the traditional in art, equated it with being American as opposed to European.The American Magazine of Art and the Art Digest both frequently featured articles extolling the virtues of a truly American art form which would not be rooted in modernism or foreign influences. As early as March 1929, the Art Digest noted: "The discovery that the commonplaces of the American scene can be quite as imagination stirring and therefore quite as worthwhile subject matter for art as the more traditional aspects is characteristic of the point of view of an increasing number of young painters." This was just two years after the leading players in the California Water Color Society had become members. |
| When the society was formed in Los Angeles in 1921 there were just fourteen participants -- eleven members and three guest artists. Nearly all were part of the group of California impres-sionist painters whose style dominated the art scene in Calif-ornia for the first three decades. The stated purpose of the org-anization was to promote and encourage the use of the medium as a legitimate painting form, elevating it above the level of only a sketching medium which had been its accepted position for over one hundred years. The first exhibition of the California Water Color Society was held in September 1921. Just three months earlier the Chouinard School of Art had been founded in Los Angeles. Included on the first faculty were F. Tolles Chamberlin and Clarence Hinkle, two artists who would have profound influence on the next generation of painters who were students at the school beginning in the mid 1920s. Phil Dike was the first scholarship student in 1924, followed by Millard Sheets in 1925. Phil Paradise enrolled in 1927 (he had been there briefly in 1923) and Hardie Gramatky in 1928. Barse Miller arrived from the East and began teaching at Chouinard in 1927. A spirit of camaraderie pervaded the atmosphere at Chouinard, and the young artists formed personal bonds that would last their life-times. All eventually joined the California Water Color Society, and within a few years their personal styles would come to dominate the group. Many would also stay on as teachers at Chouinard in the 1930s and 1940s. |
| In California, an important event for the group occurred in the summer of 1937 when writer and lecturer Lawson P. Cooper and artist Rex Brandt organized a traveling exhibition. Cooper and Brandt were both on the staff of Riverside Art Center. The exhi-bition traveled up and down the state under the title "The Calif-ornia Group." Southern California was represented by Sheets, Brandt, Miller, Dike, Zornes, Craig, Blair, Sample, Paul Mays, and Everett Gee Jackson. The North was represented by only two artists -- George Post and Tom Lewis. |
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| "San Francisco '38," 1938, Rex Brandt (1914-2000) Watercolor, 23 x 30 |
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