CALIFORNIA SCENE PAINTINGS (1930-1970)
Janet & Mark Hilbert Collection
May 1, 2013 – April 30, 2014
This is a very exciting year for the Newport Beach Public Library. The City Arts Commission and Board of Library Trustees are pleased to exhibit a rare compilation of California Scene Paintings from the collection of longtime Newport Beach residents, Janet and Mark Hilbert.
Over the past twenty years the Hilberts have collected CALIFORNIA SCENE PAINTINGS, which were created from 1930 through 1970. Artists such as Rex Brandt, illustrated in the collection, are past residents of Newport Beach who left an indelible artistic mark on the Southern California canvas. The Hilbert Collection offers a sense of California from long ago, when life was in many ways simpler and the scenery full of promise with golden skies, blue waters and green fields.
Many of the paintings from the Hilbert Collection have been loaned to museums for exhibitions, as well as numerous reproductions in books, catalogues and posters. The entire collection includes views of the Santa Monica Pier, Elysian Park in the mid 30s, train stations in LA and San Bernardino and views of family farms and small towns 1930-1950.
The emphasis for this exhibition, which will rotate every four months with new paintings, will be Newport Beach and the artists who lived and worked here. The Hilberts have offered to share these glimpses into early California with the exceptional paintings of artists Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, Roger Kuntz, George James, Emil Kosa and Rex Brandt at the Newport Beach Central Library beginning in May of 2013.