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The California Art Club (CAC) is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. Founded in December 1909, it celebrated its centennial in 2009 and into the spring of 2010.[1] The California Art Club originally evolved out of The Painters Club of Los Angeles, a short-lived group that lasted from 1906–09.[2] The new organization was more inclusive, as it accepted women, sculptors and out-of-state artists.[3]
Most of the major early California painters belonged to the CAC, including Franz Bischoff, Carl Oscar Borg, Edgar Payne, Julia Bracken Wendt, and William Wendt.[4][5] As the members of the first generation of California Plein-Air Painters aged and died, the membership was filled by younger professional painters, including Millard Sheets,[6] Mabel Alvarez,[7] Emil Kosa Jr.,[8] and watercolorist Rex Brandt,[9] along with amateur painters and commercial artists. Other notable members include Sir Winston Churchill,[10] Dean Cornwell,[11] Nicolai Fechin,[12] Sam Hyde Harris,[13] Alfredo Ramos Martinez,[14] and Richard Neutra.[15] Today its membership consists of representational artists and sculptors, but it is broadly inclusive and includes many women painters as well as painters and sculptors who emigrated to the United States from Europe and Asia. The CAC hosts an annual Gold Medal Exhibition each year along with a number of other smaller public and special museum exhibitions. Headquartered in one of the large bungalows that was part of the historic Vista del Arroyo Hotel in Pasadena, the California Art Club has a number of chapters throughout California.[16]
- ^ A new club, The California Art Club, is announced. Antony Anderson, Art and Artists, Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1909
- ^ "The Painters’ Club, which was started a few years ago, was last year merged into the California Art Club." (Antony Anderson, Art and Artists, L.A. Times, January 29, 1911.
- ^ Antony Anderson, Exit the Painters’ Club, Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1909, III17
- ^ Bischoff, Borg, and the Wendts were among the club's founders. Antony Anderson, Art and Artists, Los Angeles Times, February 13, 1910
- ^ Edgar Payne served as the 9th President of the CAC, from May–December 1926. CAC Archives
- ^ Sheets joined the CAC in September 1954 - CAC Bulletin.
- ^ Alvarez participated in CAC exhibitions from 1918–37.
- ^ Kosa, Jr. exhibited in 35th Annual (1944)
- ^ Brandt joined the CAC in October 1954 - CAC Bulletin.
- ^ Churchill was voted in as a CAC member of honor and sent a gold medal and scroll of membership in 1954 by CAC President Philip Paval; Churchill accepted and the medal now resides in Chartwell House, U.K.
- ^ Cornwell joined the CAC in April 1932 - CAC Bulletin
- ^ Fechin participated in An Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture by Fifty Members of the CAC (Stendahl Art Galleries, Los Angeles, 1944); Fechin is also listed in the 1984 Roster and By-Laws of the California Art Club, Inc., 75th Anniversary Edition
- ^ Harris is listed in a 1964 CAC Roster and participated in CAC exhibitions from the 1920s–1970s.
- ^ Ramos joined the CAC in July 1932 - CAC Bulletin, CAC Archives.
- ^ Neutra joined the CAC in February 1929 and the following month was elected as Second Vice President (Mar. 1929–Apr. 1930, CAC Bulletins, CAC Archives)
- ^ As of July 2016, there are ten CAC Chapters throughout California. http://www.californiaartclub.org/about/cac-chapters