Art, Field Notes

Pasadena Museum of History

The Pasadena Museum of History opened Something Revealed; California Women Artists Emerge, 1860-1960 on September 29, 2018 and runs until March 31, 2019.

The exhibit was curated to “dispel the misconception that women were limited in their subject matter and demonstrate that women, especially here in California, have historically made their mark in a male dominated world.  Even today, the role of men in the annals of art history frequently overshadows the artistic accomplishments made by women. The exhibition will show a long history of excellence in female-created art and prove that women could and did contribute to the evolution of style, technique, and exploration in the world of art.

This exhibition of more than 200 pieces showcases just a fraction of the countless number of women who were working in the arts beginning in the mid-nineteenth century in California. From traditional to abstractions, focusing on works produced between the mid-1800s through the 1950s, the exhibition presents an eclectic array of oil paintings, works on paper, ceramics, metalcraft, textiles and sculpture. The exhibition, loosely divided into themes, explores the wide breadth of what women could and did accomplish as they overcame any notion that their art was in anyway inferior to their male counterparts. Curated by Maurine St. Gaudens Studio and accompanied by St. Gaudens’ four volume book, Emerging from the Shadows; A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960, this exhibition will stimulate conversations and shatter any preconceived notions of the limitations of art created by women.”

Maurine St. Gaudens is the exhibit co-curator and author of Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960. She is posing by Nellie Gail Moulton’s Buffalo Roundup, 1928-1930 which is oil on canvas. This piece is provided courtesy of Jared Mathis and the Moulton Family Foundation.
Esie Palmer Payne (1884-1971) Bus Stop, circa 1943, oil on canvas. This piece is provided by The Buck Collection at the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art.
Boza Hessova (a.k.a. Betrice Hess) (1860-1939) Rising and Vanishing Hollywood, (California), circa 1934, oil on canvas. The piece is courtesy of Michael Kelley, Kelley Gallery, Pasadena, California.
Artists’ techniques and tools display
VIP Party on October 13th, 2018

The exhibit has a lovely VIP Party for those who contributed to this show. Visit the museum to see the exhibit, Fenyes Mansion, the Finish Folk Art Museum. The Kathryne Beynon Foundation Exhibition Hall rotates a variety of themes such as past exhibits Dreaming the Universe: The Intersection of Science, Fiction, & Southern California and Royals of Pasadena: Rose Queen® and Royal Court.

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