Malibu area landscapes painted by California Art Club artists are currently on display at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art on the Pepperdine University campus. The exhibition, entitled “On Location In Malibu 2003,” opened on May 24 with a gala reception attended by approximately 600 people and will run through August 3, 2003.
The show marks the second collaboration between the esteemed art group and Weisman Museum Director Dr. Michael Zakian.
“In talking about this exhibition, you have to go back to a show we did in 1998,” Zakian explained. The intent of that exhibit was to display historic paintings of Malibu from 1890-1940.”
Zakian found that plan more challenging than he expected. Because those historic works were very rare, privately collected and hard to locate, it took Zakian two-and-a-half years to compile 45 paintings. “The show was a great success and we wanted to do something like that again. However, I couldn’t just snap my fingers and have more of the rare paintings available,” he said. “So, I had the idea to turn to contemporary landscape artists.”
Zakian contacted the California Art Club (CAC), the oldest art club in the state. Its founding members were some of the most prestigious landscape artists in California art history and whose pieces comprised Pepperdine’s popular exhibit the previous year.
“We asked the CAC to invite member artists to come to Malibu to paint local scenes,” Zakian said. “There were days when several artists got together to paint at a location and the citizens came out to watch. It became a communal event.”
Because of the success of the first “On Location in Malibu” exhibition, this year Zakian realized, “it was time to do it again.”
The California Art Club was founded in 1909 by William Wendt,” said current CAC President Peter Adams. Wendt and fellow CAC artists led the group to a powerful and prestigious presence on the West Coast.
“Those artists painted and sculpted in a realistic style, focusing on area landscapes. The genre of the CAC tradition is ‘Plein Art,'” Adams said, or Open Air Painting.
“Our work is still fueled by the environmental movement,” Adams explained. “We document landscapes, nature. We take advantage of where we are. Painters in Southern California can go outside and paint 300 days a year.”
The CAC thrived until the early 1940s, when membership declined. Though struggling with low professional artist participation, the group maintained club status with a nearly invisibly profile for the next five decades. In 1993, the bar was once again raised to a sophisticated level with the involvement of Adams and his wife, Elaine, who has served as executive director since Adam’s installment as president.
With Elaine’s encouragement, professional artists were invited to join the group and the growth of the CAC indicates the wisdom of that change. “We went from a membership of 75 in 1995 to 3,000 in 2003,” Adams reported. Of that participation, 350 people are Artist Members, while the rest of the membership is a collection of artists, collectors and supporters.
Also, the group is more diverse now. “We have a large participation by Chinese and Russian artists. And we’re getting a lot of younger members. We have a mentor program for teens and people in their 20s.”
Exhibitions such as the current Pepperdine show are another benefit to CAC members. Zakian chose 64 paintings out of a CAC selection of more than 300 for the 2003 exhibit.
Elaine Adams praised Zakian’s support for California art as well as his excellence as show curator. “I love how this show is put together,” Adams said. “The paintings communicate so well together.”
The environmental and natural history of Malibu continues to be key to the group’s aim. “Part of our intent is to bring attention to preserving the history and environment of Southern California,” Peter Adams said.
Several of the paintings for “On Location in Malibu 2003” were painted specifically for this exhibit.
The Adams’ role in breathing new life in the CAC was pivotal, member artist John Comer affirmed. “Peter and Elaine have done a wonderful job in resurrecting the group and the traditional art movement.”
About the current show at Pepperdine, Comer pointed out that an exciting facet to him was seeing the way the artists interpreted the same themes or Malibu sites on canvas, such as Comer’s piece “Spring-Point Dume” and a painting of Point Dume by another artist.
“In this traditional style of painting, you think you’re doing something literal-then you see it painted so differently by someone else and realize you’re not,” he said.
For California Art Club information, visit www.californiaartclub.org. Pepperdine’s Weisman Museum listings can be found on www.pepperdine.edu; then follow the link for “center for the arts” to the Weisman Museum of Art page. Or call 310.456.4558.
The exhibit is free and open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays (closed July 4). Museum address: 24255 PCH.