Colonies of American Impressionism

Colonies of American Impressionism: Cos Cob, Old Lyme, Shinnecock, and Laguna Beach. Deborah Epstein Solon (Author), Will South (Author), Calif.) Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach (Author). 11.5 x 9 inches, 144 pages, 86 illustrations, rigid softcover, new - $49.50 As cultural theorists often enjoy pointing out, Southern California, with its motion picture, television, and aerospace industries, is the mecca of artificial culture. In this "here-today-gone-tomorrow" culture, our history traditionally has been trivialized and discarded, leaving a great deal of the past for us to excavate. Laguna Beach and the Laguna Beach Art Association (the present Laguna Art Museum) have stood at the center of another sort of culture in Southern California for more than eighty years. From the turn of the century through the 1930s, Laguna Beach was home to the most significant artists' colony on the Pacific Coast. The Laguna Art Museum has been not only the focal point of this art colony but, for the last twenty years, instrumental in uncovering its history as well. Through exhibitions and catalogues such as William Wendt 1865-1946 (Laguna Art Museum, 1978), Early Artists in Laguna Beach: The Impressionists (Laguna Art Museum, 1986), and California Light 1900-1930 (Laguna Art Museum 1990), the Museum has explored, and indeed developed, its rich local art history. Along with The Oakland Museum of California, it has been at the forefront of a trend among California museums to focus on regional history, including the Impressionist movement that was centered in Laguna Beach. More recently, The Irvine Museum has devoted considerable efforts to this subject matter as well. Continued... Bolton Colburn, Director