California Landscapes

LONG BEACH, CALIF.

:The Long Beach Museum of Art will present "California Landscapes," June 3-August 21, featuring paintings, watercolors, photographs and ceramics, drawn largely from the museum's permanent collection, supplemented by loans from artists and collectors from throughout Southern California.

"California Landscapes" depicts the unique beauty of the Golden State as envisioned by artists who call, or called, California home. Included are works from the turn of the Twentieth Century to today.

The exhibition features the work of early California plein air painters, later works by California scene painters of the 1930s and 1940s and concludes with contemporary works that both capture and respond to California's unique urban and natural landscape.

"California Landscapes" is organized by the Long Beach Museum of Art and is curated by Sue Ann Robinson, the direction of collections.

Among the artists represented will be Pasadena-based artist Franz Bischoff, husband and wife team Elmer Wachtel and Marion Kavanagh Wachtel, William Alexander Griffith, Jean Mannheim and Dana Barlett.

Also included are works by San Diego-based artist Maurice Braun, who viewed nature as a source of spiritual renewal. "California Landscapes" also features selections from the museum's important collection of paintings by George Henry Melcher, who focuses on the Topanga Canyon area and Santa Monica Bay.

California Scene painters of the 1930s and 1940s will be represented by the watercolors of Phil Dike, Rex Brandt, Charles Keck, George Gibson, Emil Kosa, Roger Kuntz and Leonard Cutrow. The final group includes contemporary natural and urban landscape, by artists such as watercolorists Kirk Pedersen and Carl Aldana; modern Long Beach scenes, such as those captured in the photographs of Tom Paiva; works created in response to nature and natural landscape, such as the unique visions of Sharon Ellis and Astrid Preston; and unusual approaches to landscape subjects by artists, such as ceramists Tony Marsh and Steve Portigal.

In conjunction with "California Landscapes," the museum will present a selection of contemporary baskets.

Organized by museum director Harold B. Nelson, a specialist in contemporary craft and the decorative arts, "Engaging Nature" includes more than 35 baskets made by 14 contemporary artists living in this country and Japan. All works are on loan from the Los Angeles-based collection of Lloyd and Margit Cotsen.

Hours are 11 am to 5 pm, Tuesday-Sunday. Admission is $5. For information, 562-439-2119 or www.lbma.org.