American Scene Painting: California 1930s and 1940s (Hardcover)

Twenty-five artists are profiled in this beautifully designed book in individual sections, accompanied by photos and a generous number of color reproductions, and included among them are Rex`Brandt, Tom Craig, Phil Dike, Hardie Gramatky, Emil Kosa, Jr., George Post, and Millard Sheets. There are four excellent essays by the leading experts on the subject. Susan M. Anderson discusses the American Scene movement in Southern California, where the cultural climate, and especially the presence of the film industry and the Chouinard Art Institute, encouraged the marriage of “high” and “low” art that developed into one of the most distinctive art movements in the country. Donelson Hoopes’ essay places the California watercolor painters within the larger historical context of the medium, while Janet Blake Dominik shows how the California Water Color Society acted as a vehicle to promote its members’ work into the national limelight. Finally, the “Northern Scene” is discussed by Raymond L. Wilson.