California is revered for many things, but the ocean and weather are probably the biggest draws. Once upon a time—before the state was buried under crowded freeways, miles of pavement, and dismal smog—its untouched stretches and unspoiled landscapes enticed people to settle here.
That historic California is the one captured in the Wildling Art Museum’s latest exhibition, “The Land of Sunshine: Paintings from The Irvine Museum Collection,” which runs through May 25. The exhibition includes 24 landscapes by some of the most important Southern California impressionists, including Benjamin Brown, Maurice Braun, Gardner Symons, John Gamble, Edgar Payne, Anna Hills, and Hanson Puthuff. Most of the artists were lured to the untouched Los Angeles basin in the early decades of the 20th century, in part due to the promotional literature generated by journalist Charles Fletcher Lummis, who wrote glowingly of the natural beauty and year-long sunshine of Southern California in his articles and book, The Land of Sunshine, published in 1898, said Holly Cline, the museum’s director of communications and membership.
“During this very green spring, visitors are able to relate the landscape they moved through to get here with the landscapes the artists saw years ago in the current exhibition,” Cline said. “Hopefully, it will move them to value and treasure what remains.”
Some of the artists’ paintings depict places that remain unspoiled today, but many of the landscapes pictured have been paved over. All of the paintings depict the land as it was between 1900 and 1930.
The exhibition is particularly fitting for the Wildling Museum because the museum was created to preserve this type of snapshot of flora and fauna as seen through the eyes of the country’s finest painters, printmakers, photographers, and sculptors.
The museum was the inspiration of Patti Jacquemain, who believed creating it would showcase the country’s beautiful landscapes, animals, and plants, and that it would be the start to helping people realize the importance of preserving the country’s natural heritage.
In that way, the Land of Sunshine exhibition becomes more than just art. It becomes a statement of what was, and what was lost. And it highlights the importance of not allowing that loss to get out of hand.
The museum was created in 1997 and opened to the public in 2000. It offers four exhibitions a year, specializing in the art of America’s wilderness.
The Wildling also offers multigenerational classes like spring Art Camp and a summer Building a Painting workshop, a free Friday Flick that features a movie related to wilderness art, and several lectures throughout the year.
All the activity has increased membership and visitors to the museum. To accommodate this, the Wildling moved into its current facility with room for the gallery, a gift shop, education center, and library. They anticipate doubling attendance within two years.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone eats flora and fauna, but not landscapes. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 9-16, 2009.