In this large exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art you can see the results of artists who began to take watercolor seriously. The works shown, however, are not only watercolor; in fact, most of the exhibition is oils, with a small side gallery devoted to prints and pencil drawings from the 1930 to 1960.
Happily, the curator has attempted to identify the specific locale of each painting. It is breathtaking to see what California looked like then. In many works the California image is still rural, still pastoral. But the urban scene of that era is also represented in paintings of downtown Los Angeles including Bunker Hill when it was still home to old, rickety Victorian houses. Newport Beach appears less cluttered, more carefree. But Sunset Blvd. near downtown looks like it could be a New York immigrant slum in one painting or, in a work by another artist, a Disney-ish happy land.
While most of the works are landscapes or cityscapes, one gallery is devoted to paintings of people involved in daily activities during that era. Again, there is a sense of great change.
Go see this exhibition. It runs through July 28th, Wednesdays through Sundays only.
You can reach the Pasadena Museum of California Art in the Gold Line. Get off at the Memorial Park Station and walk east.
