THE BAY AND BEYOND by Modern Art West   

Our latest exhibition examines a range of fine historical art from the San Francisco Bay Area and other regions of California. The founding chair of the UC Davis Art Department, Richard Nelson, is represented with a 1950s abstract oil on canvas. Nelson hired such Davis art luminaries as Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Manuel Neri, Wayne Thiebaud, and William T. Wiley. The Richard L. Nelson Gallery at UC Davis was named in his honor.

Another UC Davis ceramicist, David Gilhooly, is represented by an important frog bust portrait from 1978. The whimsical elements of the work showcase Gilhooly’s virtuoso technique.

A sizeable standing figure by Robert Cremean from 1958 is a highlight of the exhibition. Cremean represented the United States at the 1968 Venice Biennale. He was highly exhibited on both coasts in the 1950s – 60s but chose to decamp from the commercial art world many years ago. Additional sculptures include metal works by Fletcher Benton.

There are works by several women artists in the exhibition. A 1958 painting by Shirley (Helen) Rousseau hails from her most acclaimed period. Rousseau benefited from early training with Otis Oldfield, who imparted a modernist path, and later the mentorship of David Park at the California School of Fine Arts. Her unique style of this period reflected the abstract Bay Area Figurative approach while maintaining a distinguished individual direction. Rousseau’s work was included in exhibitions at LACMA and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, among others.

Jean Halpert Ryden appears with a joyous scene of a 1949 San Francisco nightclub, complete with a swinging band and jubilant party-goers, A reminder of the power of celebration in any era.    

Significant paintings by Fred Reichman, Robert McChesney, and Alan Lynch confer in one corner of the gallery and represent artists that deserve another look by the contemporary art world. Zen and Asian aesthetics inform Reichman and Lynch’s works, and Gordon Onslow Ford and the teachings of Alan Watts, among others, further influenced Reichman.

After studies at the Barnes Foundation and in Europe, James McCray was hired as a teacher by the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA) in 1941. His modernist theories helped transform the curriculum at CSFA and led to the hiring of Douglas McAgy as the Director. McAgy, in turn, hired a legendary roster of teachers, including Clyfford Still, David Park, and Richard Diebenkorn, among others. McCray’s hard-edge painting from the 1960s underscores his ties to European influences such as Mondrian and the Delaunays.

The show concludes with a painting by John Altoon featuring an abstracted coffee station commissioned by a Los Angeles company in the 1950s.