“Scenes of Grandeur: 19th Century Landscape Paintings of California”
A show brought together from the collections of the Oakland Museum and private lenders that is a sentimental bouquet for the College’s 75th birthday. It is redolent of the time and place when nature was its own reward and the painter was content to remind us of this fact. The wonder-of-it-all is in every corner, California in its grandest and quietest aspects is celebrated with gusto and imported skill. Indians and squaws inhabit the Yosemite Valley, glacial peaks stand majestically behind the headwaters of the San Joaquin River, the Pacific shore by day and forests by night: all are part of the pageant seen with awe by men whose eyes had been conditioned by other parts of the world. Hudson River, England (a la Whistler), Munich, and even the first tentative ventures into Impressionism mix in the show but all are somehow tempered by the scenery. The dedication and artistic resources of these gentle artists make their latterday counterparts in Laguna, Carmel and other curio towns look pale indeed.
—Douglas McClellan
