Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University

11/26/2019

Getting ready for the holidays, the Hilbert Museum has JUST opened this new exhibition in our hallway space: "Good Tidings We Bring: Christmas Cards from the Arthur Millier Collection" -- our first exhibition curated by a Chapman student!

Art history senior Caroline Spogli '20 did a wonderful job curating this grouping of beautiful original prints and drawings that were sent as Christmas cards by artists to Arthur Millier, who served as the highly influential art critic for the Los Angeles Times from 1926 to 1956.

The cards are by such highly regarded artists as Millard Sheets, Walt Kuhn, Eyvind Earle, Gladys Brown Edwards, Maynard Dixon, Mildred Bryant Brooks, Paul Darrow (a storied Laguna Beach artist who just passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 98), Marc Chagall, Reuven Rubin, Georges Rouault and others.

Come see this new exhibition and get into the festive spirit! The Hilbert Museum is grateful to Michael and Susan Rivard for their generous donation of the Arthur Millier Collection to us -- and now we all get to share in a small portion of this outstanding collection.

HOLIDAY CLOSURE: The Hilbert Museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. We re-open for regular hours (11am-5pm) on Saturday, Nov. 30. See you soon!

11/26/2019

Currently on view in the Hilbert Museum's "Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings" exhibition, curated by Gordon McClelland and Austin McClelland:

Roger Kuntz, "Blimp Mooring," 1970, oil on canvas. The Hilbert Collection.

Texas-born Roger Kuntz came to California with his widowed mother at the age of three. He began drawing and painting in his youth, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII, and received a master's in fine art from the Claremont Graduate School, where he studied with Henry Lee McFee, Millard Sheets and Sueo Serisawa, among others. He held his first solo exhibition in 1951, and soon was exhibiting his works nationally and internationally.

As he matured as an artist, his painting style shifted to a dramatic and reductive viewpoint, often focusing on close-cropped views freeways and underpasses, highway signs and airships, emphasizing the architecture of their structures and straddling the line between representation and abstraction.

In 1968, the Goodyear Company built a blimp airfield in Carson, California, just south of Los Angeles. It's located on 27 acres of land clearly visible from the 405 Freeway, and is used to anchor the famous Goodyear Blimp, a regular sight at sports events, parades and at other events around Southern California. In 1970, Kuntz received permission to access the airfield and completed a series of paintings focusing on the blimp. This is one of the most dramatic works in that series, zeroing in on a segment of the lower curve of the blimp's helium-filled envelope and the passenger gondola beneath it. Note how the curve of the blimp's underbelly is echoed by the curves of the runway. By narrowing his viewpoint, Kuntz has created an unusual and unique close-up view of a familiar L.A. sight, playing up its abstract qualities as well as its monumental size.

Visit the Hilbert Museum to see this and many more paintings in the "Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings" exhibition, as well as our other exhibitions: "A Fine Romance: Images of Love in Classic American Illustration" and "The Magic and Flair of Mary Blair," along with paintings in our Permanent Collection. Free admission! This week we are open Tuesday and Wednesday, closed on Thanksgiving Day and Friday, but open again on Saturday. Our opening hours are 11am to 5pm. The Hilbert Museum is located at 167 N. Atchison Street in Orange, right across from the Metrolink station and Ruby's Diner.

11/25/2019

REMINDER that the Hilbert Museum will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday. We will re-open for regular hours (11am-5pm) on Saturday! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

11/14/2019

From our current "Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings" exhibition, curated by Gordon and Austin McClelland and on view through May 2, 2020: Ben Abril's "Third Street Tunnel and Angels Flight," c. 1960, oil on canvas 30x40 inches. Gift of the Hilbert Collection to the Hilbert Museum of California Art.

Electric trains were once regularly used by large numbers of people in Los Angeles for transportation. Since walking up the steep hill below the Third Street Tunnel to make train connections was difficult, the Angels Flight incline railway was built in 1901 to carry pedestrians up and down Bunker Hill.

The landmark narrow-gauge funicular, which is still in existence and a popular attraction, has operated on two different sites, using the same cars and station elements. The original Angels Flight location, with tracks connecting Hill Street and Olive Street, operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969, when its site was cleared for redevelopment.

The second Angels Flight location opened one half block south of the original location in 1996, with tracks connecting Hill Street and California Plaza.

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11/08/2019

Reminder: You're cordially invited to the Opening Reception for the Hilbert Museum's new exhibitions, tomorrow, Saturday, November 9, from 6pm to 8pm. There'll be refreshments and the opportunity to enjoy the exhibitions: "Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings," featuring more than 70 magnificient oils and watercolors by many of California's finest artists, depicting everyday life in L.A. from the early 1900s to today; and "A Fine Romance: Images of Love in Classic American Illustration," a selection of works from The Hilbert Collection's treasure trove of illustration art. There are also new works rotated into the Permanent Collection, including a magnificent new large oil of her trademark tropical birds by Jessie Arms Botke, recently acquired. The reception is open-house style, so come over any time between 6 and 8pm (get here on the earlier side if you want refreshments...sometimes they get very popular!). No ticket required. We suggest parking in the new, free city structure behind the museum on the corner of Cypress and Maple -- it's just a short walk to the museum, and the museum parking lot will be closed for the night for the reception set-up.

10/31/2019

Don’t forget — this Saturday, November 2, the Hilbert Museum re-opens with a major new exhibition, “Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings,” and we’re back on our regular hours, Tuesday-Saturday, 11am - 5pm. Join us the next Saturday, November 9, for the Opening Reception, from 6 to 8 pm! Here’s a glimpse of the show as it’s being installed - we can’t wait to see you here and we know you’ll enjoy this look at L.A. from the early 1900s to today, through the eyes of many of its finest artists.

10/28/2019

Fire licks the edges of Getty Center, but the art is safe, the museum says

Sending positive thoughts to our friends at the Getty Center hilltop complex in Brentwood, threated by the current wildfires -- and of course to the nearby residents. The art at the Getty is quite safe and the complex should be OK, but the situation is, of course, ever-changing. The Los Angeles Times (click on story below to access) is providing free online coverage of the wildfires to both non-subscribers and subscribers, so feel free to check in there on the latest news (and consider subscribing to the Times to support their excellent and necessary coverage).

The Getty fire poses a threat not just with flames but also with smoke, which can damage artworks. But the museum says its paintings are protected.

10/23/2019

If you’ve ever wondered what an art museum looks like in between exhibitions, here you go! All the paintings were deinstalled and packed off yesterday, and we now are in patch and paint mode. As soon as that’s all done and the paint dries, then the fun part happens: hanging the new exhibitions!

We re-open on Saturday, Nov. 2 with our new “Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings” show (curated by father-son team Gordon and Austin McClelland) and “A Fine Romance: Images of Love in Classic American Illustration,” curated by Hilbert Museum director Mary Platt. Along with a new selection of paintings from our Permanent Collection, and the continuation of "The Magic and Flair of Mary Blair," extended by popular demand through the end of 2019.

See you on Nov. 2, or on Saturday, Nov. 9 from 6-8 pm for our Opening Reception!

10/22/2019

NOTICE: The Hilbert Museum is closed now through Nov. 1 to change out our exhibitions. Re-join us starting Saturday, Nov. 2 as we return to regular opening hours (Tues-Sat, 11am-5pm) with our new exhibitions: "Los Angeles Area Scene Painting" and "A Fine Romance: Images of Love in Classic American Illustration." Plus, paintings from our Permanent Collection will be back -- both old favorites and new! And "The Magic and Flair of Mary Blair" exhibition has been extended by popular demand through the end of 2019. You're cordially invited to attend our Opening Reception for the new exhibitions on Saturday, November 9, 6 to 8 pm -- there'll be wine and cheese and mingling (free admission)!

10/19/2019

Today (Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019) is the FINAL DAY of the "GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School" exhibition, as well as our Norman Rockwell exhibition. If you haven't visited yet, there are just a few hours left -- we close at 5 pm!

After that, the Hilbert Museum will be CLOSED to the public for two weeks, Oct. 20-Nov. 1, as we change out exhibitions.

Come back on Saturday, Nov. 2 as we open the new "Los Angeles Area Scene Paintings" and "Images of Love in Classic American Illustration" exhibitions (Nov. 2, 2019-May 2, 2020). "The Magic and Flair of Mary Blair" exhibition has been extended to Dec. 28, 2019 by popular demand. See you today -- or see you Nov. 2!

10/13/2019

“The Art of Wine” wine-tasting gala at the Hilbert Museum tonight, benefiting our wonderful Old Towne (Orange) Preservation Association, which does such outstanding work in our historic community. Happy to have everyone here for such an enjoyable event! Wines were, indeed, tasted!

10/09/2019

Guests at this morning’s #NeighborhoodBuilders” awards event at the #HilbertMuseum, presented by #BankOfAmerica, were treated to a tour of the museum by founder Mark Hilbert and director Mary Platt!

10/05/2019

If you want to see our current exhibition "GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956," you need to hurry! The exhibition must close soon -- the last day to view it here at the Hilbert Museum will be Saturday, Oct. 19. After that, we will close for two weeks to deinstall this show and install our new exhibitions, which will open on Saturday, Nov. 2 (opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 6 pm).

Featured here from the GIFTED exhibition: Francis de Erdely, "Return of the Prodigal," c. 1950, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches. Gift of the Class of Winter 1950 to Gardena High School. Francis de Erdely, born Ferenc de Erdelyi in Budapest, Hungary, was renowned in Europe and the U.S. for his powerful figure paintings and drawings depicting human struggle. He had studied in some of the finest academies in Europe and had traveled the world after receiving early acclaim for his official royal portrait of the Queen of Spain.

Due to his strongly anti-war, anti-Nazi paintings, he was forced to flee Europe in 1939. He arrived in Southern California in 1944, carrying the torch of European Expressionism and Existentialism in a darkly emotive brand of figuration. At the tine of the GHS students' purchase of this painting, de Erdely was a professor at USC, where he taught academic painting and drawing from 1945 until his death in 1959.

Many artists, over the centuries, from Albrecht Durer to Giorgio de Chirico, have depicted the biblical tale of the return of the prodigal son. In the Gospel of Luke (15:11-32) Christ relates a parable in which a son requests his inheritance and leaves home, only to fritter away his wealth. After many years, he returns in sickness and poverty - and his father welcomes him back into the fold. De Erdely's brilliant interpretation of the story is wholly new, not only because of the artist's tightly woven figurative expressionism, but also because the painting focuses entirely on a close-up view of father and son at the moment of their reunion. The image is compelling in its drama and depth of emotion. #hilbertmuseumofcaliforniaart #hilbertmuseum #chapmanuniversity #gardenahighschool #art #painting #oilpainting #oilpaintings #prodigalson #bible #biblical #bibleart #religion #religiousart #newtestament #museum #museums #gallery #galleries

09/30/2019

From the current major exhibition "GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956" at the Hilbert Museum of California Art. REMEMBER - THIS EXHIBITION CLOSES after Oct. 19 -- hurry and see it!

Clyde Eugene Scott, "Mirror of Summer," c. 1939, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Gift of the Class of Winter 1939 to Gardena High School.

In 1939, Clyde Scott began a career as a special-effects painter for 20th Century Fox after 25 years in San Francisco working in the advertising and commercial art sectors. He was president of the Painters and Sculptors of Los Angeles and active in the Laguna Beach Art Association at the time the GHS students purchased this painting. One of Scott's most striking works, "Mirror of Summer" exhibits the emphasis on color and light typical of California Impressionism. The tonal harmony of color in the rocky cliff and its glassy mirror image echoes his subtle use of a gray-green in the foam rolling onto the shore. Scott made another painting of the same wall of rocks and the same beach, which he titled "Shimmering Sand, Laguna Beach" -- which helps us to locate this scene.

#hilbertmuseum #hilbertmuseumofcaliforniaart #clydescott #lagunabeach #californiaart #california #painting #paintings #artist #artists #californiaimpressionism #impressionism #laguna #lagunabeachartassociation #sea #ocean #beach #beachscenes #beachpainting #gardenahighschool #seascape #seascapes #coast #coastline #californiacoast #californiabeach #beachlife

09/22/2019

More great Disney vibes at the Hilbert Museum tonight! We just finished a wonderful lecture by Disney expert Mindy Johnson, who's doing amazing historical work on women artists at Disney (it's not just Mary Blair!) and has written two books, "Ink and Paint" and now her new one, "Pencils, Pens and Brushes: A Great Girls' Guide to Disney Animation."

She brought along special guests Maggie Richardson, niece of Mary Blair ("Alice in Wonderland," "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," "It's a Small World") and Jane Baer, an animator whose work with Disney spanned all the way from 1959's "Sleeping Beauty" to 1988's "Who Framed Roger Rabblt." They're pictured here (Maggie 4th from left, Mindy next to her, and Jane in red next to her) with a group of our Chapman women film students, who turned out in force to see these inspirational women, to ask great questions and to meet them in person. An amazing night!!

#hilbertmuseum #hilbertmuseumofcaliforniaart #mindyjohnson #disney #disneyanimation #womenofdisney #animation #womenanimators #womenartists #art #movies #animatedmovies #cartoons #women #museum #gallery #artists #maryblair #janebaer #aliceinwonderland #cinderella #peterpan #itsasmallworld #disneyland #disneyworld #disneyfans

09/18/2019

From the "GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956" exhibition, now through October 19 at the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange, CA:

Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius, "Along the Slopes (or Moose in Cut Timberland)," c. 1938, oil on canvas. 30 x 45 inches. Gift of the Class of Summer 1938 to Gardena High School, Gardena, CA.

Berlin-born Carl Rungius (1869-1959) specialized in paintings of big-game animals of the Rocky Mountains and Canada, and is today hailed as THE preeminent painter of North American wildlife. He hunted, and used the animals he pursued -- bears, moose, caribou, deer, mountain goats -- in the plein-air paintings he made in the wilderness, capturing the light and color of specific landscapes. Rungius had often visited the Berlin Zoo, and even a glue factory, to study animals so that he could become familiar with their muscles, bones, tendons and tissue. His expressive brushwork, patches of vibrant color, and emphasis on realistic portrayals of his animal subjects all contributed to his signature style. The scene in "Along the Slope" is filled with a sense of anticipation as the moose show an instinctive alertness to their environment. Rungius lived in the Los Angeles area from 1936 to 1939, at the time the senior class of GHS purchased this painting for their school.

#hilbertmuseum #hilbertmuseumofcaliforniaart #moose #wildlife #NorthAmericanwildlife #wildlifeart #animalart #RockyMountains #canada #carlrungius #zoo #californiaart #californiaartist #berlin #oilpainting #oilpaintings #artist #art #paintings #painting #chapmanUniversity #museum #artmuseum #gallery