William Wendt: Transcendentalist

Sycamores, 1918 William Wendt (American, 1865-1946) Oil on canvas; 26 3/4 x 42 3/4 x 2 1/4 in. F7678 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection Transcendental State of Mind The great transcendentalists had come and gone by the time the William Wendt first arrived in California with a brush in hand and love of nature in heart and began painting this ...
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Fine Art OC History
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Thanks for the Memories: Brittany Boats Painted by Edgar Payne

Marine, Boats in Brittany, c. 1929 Edgar Payne (American, 1882-1947) Oil on canvas; 16 1/2 x 19 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. F7600 Gift of Mrs. Edgar Payne Not Just Foodsgiving Thanksgiving is a no-nonsense holiday because—as much as we try to take it as a moment to reflect and honor the things in our lives that we are thankful for—the holiday is perhaps most-l...
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Fine Art
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Forms in Dimensions: Tamayo and Zapotec Sculpture

Detail of Seated Deity Figure, 300-600 AD Zapotec culture; Mexico Ceramic; 14 1/2 x 10 in. 2000.56.7 The Dr. Eli B. and Aimee Cohen Memorial Collection Universes of Meaning This week marks the opening of Dimensions of Form: Tamayo and Mixografía , an exhibition primarily about a series of three-dimensional prints made by Rufino Tamayo, one of the m...
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Fine Art Pre-Columbian
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The Immaculate ‘Art of Mary

Detail of Heart of Mary , c. 1750 Miguel Ballejo y Mandirano; Mexico Oil on canvas; 30 x 22 in. 89.22.2 Donated by Mr. Gene R. Wood Feast of the Hurt Pain is an awful thing. It can come from a variety of sources, but it is perhaps most punishing when it attacks us through a loved one. The Christian faith is in part based around the suffering and se...
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Fine Art Latin American
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Buff’s Bluffs: Buffing up on Conrad Buff

Ocean Vista , c. 1925 Conrad Buff (Swiss-born American, 1886-1975); Southern California Oil on Masonite; 36 x 24 in. 91.47.4 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Christian and Joyce Title (Con)Rad, With Bodacious Later Works Rugged individualism remains an ingrained facet of American identity, but it is the combination of individualism and collaboration that creat...
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Fine Art
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To the Trinity and Beyond: Jesus at the Bowers

Pilgrimage Souvenir, 19th Century Jerusalem, modern-day Israel Mother-of-pearl; 8 ½ x 8 ½ in. 31521 Gift of Mrs. John Carruthers Getting a Rise out of Spring Spring is a time of rebirth. Winter’s chill recedes, new flowers bloom and trees seemingly come back from the dead. Branches which for all the world appeared to be deceased are given Lazaran l...
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Decorative Arts Fine Art OC History
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Dragon Glass: Taking Stock at the Bowers Museum

Battle and Hunting Weapons, 300-1519 Michoacán, Mexico Obsidian; various dimensions 2003.10.42C-I Anonymous Gift The Night King Cometh As most fantasy buffs are well¬-aware, HBO’s Game of Thrones returns for the first of its final six episodes this upcoming Sunday. Not to spoil too much of the show for those who are interested in watching but have ...
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Fine Art Native American Oceanic Pre-Columbian
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Thomas Hunt: A Legacy Remembered

Detail of Untitled, c. 1924 Thomas Hunt (Canadian-born American, 1882-1938) Oil on paper on board; 10 x 12 in. F7742 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection Anti-Entropic Relay Legacy is without a doubt one of the constant thought worms throughout history, and we can all agree that it is not distributed in equal measure to the deceased. While it ...
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Fine Art OC History
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Utagawa Yoshiiku and the Blooming World

Detail of 94.64.10. Gift of Mr. William Drell. Love to Spring this On You As all living in southern California are acutely aware, this winter’s deluge has brought with it the happy occasion of a Californian super bloom. The hillsides and shallow valleys of California’s inland deserts—so often entirely devoid of flora—have sprung to life, ...
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Fine Art Japanese
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The Ann and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection: Milford Zornes

Detail of Corona Del Mar , 1960 Milford Zornes (American, 1908 - 2008); Corona Del Mar, California Watercolor on paper; 14 7/8 × 21 1/2 in. 2018.6.48 Ann and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection
Milford Zornes
“The fact is that you never lick watercolor painting, and you can't very well give it up as long as you feel you ...
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Fine Art
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A Mission Impossible: Arthur Edwaine Beaumont’s Carmel Mission

Detail of Untitled (The Carmel Mission), 1949 Arthur Edwaine Beaumont (English-born American, 1890-1978); Carmel, California Watercolor and tempera on paper; 15 x 12 in. 96.65.1 Gift of Rae and Sandra Young Bombshell Artist The Bowers Blog has previously examined the works of the English-born American artist, Arthur Edwaine Beaumont, looking at his...
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Fine Art
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The Ann Cullen Collection: Dong Kingman

Bridge and Tugboats , mid 20th Century Dong Kingman (American, 1911 - 2000); New York City, New York Watercolor on paper; 19 1/2 x 29 1/2 in. 2018.6.11 Ann and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection Delightful, Diligent As this series winds to a close, we end by looking at an artist who—perhaps out of all of the artists in the collection had the closest f...
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Fine Art
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The Ann Cullen Collection: Millard Sheets Pt. 1

Family Flats , 1932 Millard Sheets (American, 1907 - 1989); California Lithograph; 16 x 22 1/2 in. 2018.6.26 Gift of Ann Cullen Three Sheets to the Blog So far in this series we have examined the close ties between the various painters of the Ann Cullen Collection. In this post we look at the noble heart at the center of the group, the ever-charism...
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Fine Art
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The Ann Cullen Collection: Phil Dike

Waves Spilling Over Rocks , 1976 Phil Dike (American, 1906 - 1990); California Watercolor on paper; 18 x 24 in. 2018.6.6 Gift of Ann Cullen Something Else Entirely In the Bowers Museum’s recently acquired paintings by Phil Dike (American, 1906-1990), we see birds suspended in motion over breaking waves. Dike was drawn to the ocean just as he was dr...
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The Ann Cullen Collection: Emil Kosa Jr.

Bunker Hill , mid 20th Century Emil Kosa Jr. (French-born American, 1903-1968); Los Angeles, California Watercolor on paper; 22 x 28 in. 2018.6.17 Gift of Ann Cullen First Kosa’s First Full… absolutely full to the brim with life and a love for painting. Is there any other way to describe Emil Kosa Jr.? In the second post of this series on the Ann C...
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The Ann Cullen Collection: Rex Brandt

Autumn Day , 1976 Rex Brandt (American, 1914-2000); Temecula, California Watercolor on paper; 18 x 24 in. 2018.6.2 Ann Cullen Collection An Open Book The Bowers Museum’s California Bounty: Image and Identity 1850-1930 has been quietly boasting the triumphs of Californian artists since its opening in 2016. Housed in the halls of the museum’s Histori...
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Beaumont and Los Angeles' Chinatowns

Pagoda, Old Chinatown, Los Angeles , 1949 Arthur Edwaine Beaumont (English-born American, 1890-1978); Los Angeles, California Watercolor on paper; 14 x 21 x ½ in. 86.40.1 Gift of Mr. Paul J. Knaak A Perfect Beau… As one among many artists who painted the California Style watercolors that developed during the early and mid 20th Century, the English-...
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Fine Art
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Plein to See: Nellie Moulton and the Bequest that Began It All

Detail of Coastline , early 20th Century Nellie Gail Moulton (American, 1878-1972) Oil on masonite; 12 × 14 × 3/4 in. F7736 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection Stevens Start-off One of the lesser-known facts about the Bowers Museum’s remarkable Fine Art Collection is that we have only paid for one painting. The rest of the Bowers’ 1543 curren...
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Fine Art OC History
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Aloys Bohnen: A Cool Summer Night

Detail of Summer Night , c. 1925 Aloys Bohnen (American, 1889-1967) Oil on canvas; 34 x 27 in. 31163 Gift of the James Earl Fraser Estate Into the Grove During the day Californian summers can become oppressively hot—to the point of us wondering if the day’s warmest hours wouldn’t be better passed in siesta. The few respites from this heat can be fo...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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Three Vignettes of Frank Coburn

Street Scene in the Rain, c.1921 Frank Coburn (American, 1862-1938) Oil on canvas; 23 × 27 1/2 in. 3953 Gift of Georgia DeLong in memory of her brother, Frank Coburn Beginning For painters like Frank Coburn, capturing beauty began with finding it in places where few others could see it. Much of Coburn’s oeuvre is represented by the bright and pictu...
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The First Warbles of Spring

Scene from Tale of Genji Chapter 23, “Hatsune (First Warbler)”, 1890 Yōshū Chikanobu (Japanese, 1838-1912); Tokyo, Japan Woodblock print on paper; 21 1/2 x 33 in. 94.64.8 Gift of Mr. William Drell Tale of the Equinox Spring is in the air! The spring equinox, which occurred Tuesday, March 20 th , provides the possibility for rebirth, renewal, and re...
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Asian Permanent Collection Fine Art Japanese
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Gardner and the Groundhog

Winter Landscape—Sunlit Hill , c. 1925 George Gardner Symons (American, 1863-1930) Oil on canvas; 41 x 47 x 1 1/2 in. F7680 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection George Gardner Symons, c. 1920 Groundhog Day Celebration With Groundhog Day soon to bring Punxsutawney Phil from his winter abode to predict an early spring or six more weeks of cold w...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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Frey-ed Canvas: Conserving the Bowers' Pio Pico Painting

Don Pio Pico , 1868 Henry J. Frey (American, b?-d?) Oil on canvas; 24 x 20 in. 3513 Gift of Mrs. John Forster Repairing a Rogue’s Ranchero Representation About a year and a half ago the Bowers Museum Collections Blog published a post on our resident painting of Pio Pico. For years the painting had been exhibited by a perfunctory “Unknown Artist” la...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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Dusk | Dawn

Evening on the River , 1883 George Inness (American, 1825-1894) Oil on canvas; 33 3/4 x 48 x 3 in. F7664 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection Sunset: 2017 Ends Twilight , c. 1860 George Inness (American, 1825-1894) Every day comes to day’s end. In this twilight painted rivers, seas and skies—aching with shades of red, violet, and orange—all co...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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Kingdom of the Quartz Skull

Izok , 2010 Harold Van Pelt (American, 1925-) Quartz and izoklakeite L.2016.21.34a,b Loan courtesy of Harold and Erica Van Pelt © 2010 Harold and Erica Van Pelt Van Pelt One need not be an explorer-archaeologist to come across incredible artifacts. For experts like Harold Van Pelt they can be made in the workshop. Van Pelt has spent the last 45 yea...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art Latin American Natural History
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Käthe Kollwitz: Don't Fear the Reaper

Whetting the Scythe  from The Peasants' Revolt, 1905 Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945) Etching on paper; 21 1/2 x 18 in. 33542  Gift of Mr. Howard Graham Käthe   Käthe Kollwitz, 1919 Fascination with the moribund can come from any number of circumstances. For Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1942) it stemmed from a lifetime of tragedy, ...
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European Fine Art Printed Materials
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Dewing's Depictions of Disappearing Debutantes

Standing Woman (pastel no. 124), 1918-1925 Thomas Wilmer Dewing (American, 1851-1938) Pastel on brown paper; 15 x 12 in. F7724 Martha C. Stevens Memorial Art Collection Odd Thomas Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl , 1861–62 James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903) Oil on canvas; 84.5 in × 42.5 in National Gallery of Art, Washingto...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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What Became of the Floating World

Two Prints from The Fifteen Views of Kyoto,  1950-1960 Tomikichiro Tokuriki (Japanese, 1902–1999) Woodblock print on paper; 15 x 13 in. 81.8.1J, K Gift of Mr. Kerwin Jacobs Beauty Reading a Letter, late 18 th Century Utamaro (Japanese 1753-1806) Woodblock print on paper; 19 x 13 in. 36124.1 Evylena Nunn Miller Memorial Collection Ukiyo-e , the...
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Asian Permanent Collection Fine Art Japanese Printed Materials
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Arthur Edwaine Beaumont and the Story Behind “The Red Bathing Suit”

The Red Bathing Suit , 1948 Arthur Edwaine Beaumont (American, 1890-1978) Watercolor on paper; 97.144 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Dreibelbis Arthur Edwin Crabbe was born on March 25, 1890 in Thorpe-St. Andrew, England. His father was a medical attendant in the British Military, and his mother was a nurse who encouraged her five children to draw and...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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Edward Kienholz Painting, "Point Pink"

Point Pink, c. 1955 Edward Kienholz (American, 1927-1994) Oil on canvas; 48 x 48 in. F80.62.2 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin R. Gamson Edward Kienholz is best known for his 1960's large scale assemblages of found objects, urban detritus, and knick knacks arranged into environments or tableaux that comment on unpleasant social and cultural aspects of li...
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Permanent Collection Fine Art
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