The Irvine Museum Shows Works by California's Bohemian Club Painters

Written by Arnold Macdonald Thursday, 16 June 2011 21:46

Irvine, CA.- The Irvine Museum is pleased to present "California Rhapsody" from June 18th through November 3rd. The artists in this exhibition were all early members of the remarkable Bohemian club. In 1872, a number of San Francisco painters, writers, musicians and actors joined together as a group and formed the Bohemian Club. The club began to thrive. In April 1874, Henry Edwards, president of the Bohemian Club, reported that this "association of talent, which from small beginnings has, in the brief space of two years, made for itself a shining mark upon the literary and artistic records not only of California, but of America at large."

Among the club's members were Percy Gray (1869-1952), best known for his paintings in watercolor, favored views of native wildflowers, stands of oaks, and groups of elegant eucalyptus, often shrouded in fog. William Keith (1838-1911) is called "California's Old Master" and was perhaps the leading figure in the San Francisco art community. His early paintings were often mountain epics painted in descriptive realism. His later paintings are darker, smaller and more intimate with more emphasis on mood over subject matter. Xavier Martinez (1869-1943) was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He settled in San Francisco and became an American citizen. Martinez was one of the leading figures in the Tonalist movement, an art movement that produced soft and gentle views of the San Francisco Bay area. Granville Redmond (1871-1935) was one of California's leading landscape painters. While he preferred to paint in the moody and introspective style of the Tonalist, the public favored his color-filled Impressionistic paintings of rolling hills usually covered with golden poppies and blue lupines. William Ritschel (1864-1049) loved to paint the sea in its many moods. His works brought him high praise in Europe as well as the United States where he was called the "Dean of American Marine Painters."


Dedicated to the preservation and display of California art of the Impressionist Period (1890-1930), The Irvine Museum is embracing a principal role in the education and furtherance of this beautiful and important regional variant of American Impressionism that has come to be associated with California and its remarkable landscape. The Irvine Museum invites you to share this experience and to enjoy the splendor and power of art as it relates directly to our beloved California. Much of what originally made California a "Golden Land" was directly linked to the environment, especially the land and water that nurtured and sustained a rare quality of life. Over a hundred years ago, the splendor of nature fascinated artists and compelled them to paint beautiful paintings. As we view these rare and remarkable paintings, we are returned, all too briefly, to a time long ago when the land and its bounty were open and almost limitless. Today, with the renaissance of the glorification of nature in art, that spirit is motivating enlightened people in the same way it energized artists of the past. The common bond is the deep reverence for nature and the common goal is to preserve our environment, and no statement is more eloquent than the silent testament of these magnificent paintings. Each generation, in its turn, is the steward of the land, water and air. Our time is now. I sincerely hope that the message this museum imparts will inspire us all to action in this most pressing obligation. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.irvinemuseum.org

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