Product Description

California embodies the American desire to explore frontiers. Collected here in Paintings of California are the works of more than sixty of America's finest artists, all of whom were drawn to the beauty of California's kaleidoscopic geography and the diversity of her people.
The more than ninety landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes in the book are a revealing depiction not just of the changing topography but of the creation and persistence of the myth of the American dream. The images demonstrate the inspiration provided by sun, sky, and sea, and range from awe-inspiring renderings of giant sequoias to prophetic warnings about the costs of urbanization.
Among the painters included are Albert Bierstadt, George Bellows, Richard Diebenkorn, Childe Hassam, David Hockney, George Inness, David Park, Frank Romero, Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, Wayne Thiebaud, and Nicola Wood. Accompanying the paintings are brief selected writings from such authors as John Muir, Mark Twain, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, and John Steinbeck that echo the passion of the paintings. In her introduction, Ilene Susan Fort amplifies these excerpts, exploring the history of California and its art and also the unique qualities that have made the state so seductive to explorers, tourists, and artists alike. The book concludes with biographical notes on the artists and information about the collections of the major California museums.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395012 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Review
For many years California was the edge of the American world, and perhaps because of this, it, more than any other state, has inspired an art reflective of the frontier, of the American dream. Beautifully illustrated with over seventy landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes, Paintings of California explores some of the finest results of this inspiration, including works by Albert Bierstadt, Childe Hassam, Granville Redmond, Millard Sheets, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, and many more. -- Review

Review
For many years California was the edge of the American world, and perhaps because of this, it, more than any other state, has inspired an art reflective of the frontier, of the American dream. Beautifully illustrated with over seventy landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes, Paintings of California explores some of the finest results of this inspiration, including works by Albert Bierstadt, Childe Hassam, Granville Redmond, Millard Sheets, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, and many more.

From the Inside Flap
"A pictorial treasure--both an affordable gift book and a resource for readers seriously interested in California art. The introductory essay by Ilene Fort, a leading authority on American art, is an informative survey that offers insights into California's distinctive art, history, and culture."--Susan Landauer, author of The San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism

Customer Reviews

Captures the feel of California
I love this book. I lived in California for 10 years and became totally enchanted by it. This book brings back pleasant memories of sites, sounds, and smells from the Golden State. The total sensory experiences of the Sierra foothills covered with wildflowers in the spring, the ocean's edge at Big Sur, the hills above San Louis Obispo, the sierras in the summer, and many others come flooding back while browsing this book. My only complaint is its size. These images deserve a big coffee-table style book.

lovely book
I bought this book years ago at an art museum bookstore. It was one of those books that I nearly didn't buy because I didn't think I would look at it more than once, and it was an impulse buy, but it is one of my favorites now. Every now and then I take it off the shelf and look through it, and each time I do I am glad. It reminds me of all the beautiful parts of my home, California. It is a great collection of lesser-known works which capture our landscape perfectly, beautifully. It would be nice if it were a larger book because the pictures would then be larger, but if it were, I might not pick it up so often, and I might not have bought it. The print and paper quality is excellent, so perhaps it is fine as-is.

Fabulous little book
The introduction considers what it is about California, the light, the landscape and flora that attracts the artist. It very briefly discusses the artistic growth of the area along with its social and economic development.

However the real attraction of this modest, by art book standards, publication is the sheer diversity of the work, the contrast as each page reveals a new aspect; occasionally a familiar image but more often something new. From these pictures, presented roughly in chronological order, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, one gets an image of the rapid growth of the area, and the richness of the environment and of course the variety of work that it has inspired. The images, over seventy in total, are presented in full colour, one to a page, occasionally with a literary quote on the facing page from the likes of Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac and many others. They include oils and watercolours. The book concludes with some very brief biographies of the artists included, just three or four lines each; and details of some selected California museums.

The lists of artists includes: Albert Bierstadt, George Inness, Chile Hassam, Elmer Wachtel, Granville Redmond, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Edward Ruscha, George Bellows, David Hockney and David Park to mention just a few.