| THE CALIFORNIA PLEIN AIR COLORIST TRADITION By Sarah Bessara, Editor, The Plein Air Scene, Monthly Newsletter |
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| The Society of Six Who Were the Society of Six? The Six were a group of East Bay plein air painters who joined together in 1917 to form a dynamic and mutually beneficial painting association that lasted until the Great Depression. Members were Selden Gile, William Henry Clapp, Maurice Logan, August Gay, Louis Siegriest, and Bernard Von Eichman. Their work was characterized first and foremost by bold color, unpretentious subject matter and a spontaneous and generous application of paint. They were more Fauves than Impressionists and were definitely "outsiders" to the mainstream of Northern California landscape painting at the time which was dominated by Arthur Matthew's classical, tonalist paintings and William Keith's dark, romantic landscapes. Who influenced the Six? The Panama Pacific Exhibition of 1915 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco jump-started the Six. For the first time they saw the paintings of the French Impressionists and also the American Impressionists who had been painting on the East Coast in the new style since the 1890's. Selden Gile and the others were dazzled by the bright colors and spontaneity of the brush work. Northern California had been isolated from the currents of modernism because of its remoteness and the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 which saw many artists move to Southern California. Rambunctious, fun-loving, and mostly self taught, the Six sloshed through the mud flats of Oakland and scrambled over the hills around the East Bay to practice their new-found techniques. Days often ended at leader Selden Gile's house where they critiqued each other's work and ate his home-cooked meals accompanied by abundant brew. The Depression signaled an end to the productive years of the Six as a group, and each went his separate way. For an in-depth study of the Six with extensive color reproductions of their work see: The Society of Six: California Colorists, by Nancy Boas. |
| Plein air painting is making a huge comeback in California some 75 years after the Early California Impressionists dominated the California art scene. Following in the tradition of the French Impression-ists and Post Impressionists such as Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh, painters are dragging their boards, canvases, and French easels into the hills in record numbers. |
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| "High & Dry," c1930, Louis Bassi Siegriest (1899-1989) Oil on Canvas, 12x16 |
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| "Spring Flowers on a Bank," c1920 William Henry Clapp (1879-1954) Oil on Canvas, 15x18 |
| "Fall's Beginning," 1928, Selden Connor Gile (1875-1947) Oil on Canvas, 24x30 |
| "Sunday Morning, Martinez," c1931, Maurice George Logan (1886-1977) Oil on Canvas, 24x30 |
| "A Forest Scene," 1930 August Francois Gay (1890-1948) Oil on Canvas, 26x20 |
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| "Man in Street," 1926, Bernard Von Eichman (1899-1970) Oil on Canvas, 16.5 x 14.5 |
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