Artists at Continent's End

by Shields, Scott A.

• ISBN13: 9780520247390
• ISBN10: 0520247396
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-20
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

Few regions rival the magnificence of California's Monterey Peninsula. This beauty, together with a mild climate, rich history, and simplicity of lifestyle, encouraged the development of one of the nation's foremost art colonies. From 1875 to the first years of the twentieth century, artists were drawn to the towns of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and then Carmel. "Artists at Continent's End "is the first in-depth examination of the importance of the Monterey Peninsula, which during this period came to epitomize California art. Beautifully illustrated with a wealth of images, including many never before published, this book tells the fascinating story of eight principal protagonists--Jules Tavernier, William Keith, Charles Rollo Peters, Arthur Mathews, Evelyn McCormick, Francis McComas, Gottardo Piazzoni, and photographer Arnold Genthe--and a host of secondary players who together established an enduring artistic legacy. Most previous accounts claim that the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire were the reason that artists began to gather on the Monterey Peninsula. Shields challenges this view by demonstrating that the colony began much earlier--and in Monterey, not Carmel, as often asserted. In an absorbing narrative that combines art and social history, Shields describes how, beginning with Jules Tavernier's arrival in 1875, art produced on the peninsula broke from its East and West Coast antecedents to become increasingly subjective, meditative, and simple. He maintains that, by the turn of the century, the majority of the artists in the region had arrived at a tonal style featuring moody atmospheric effects. Some went one step farther, producing canvases reductive in color and form; others practiced a more colorful impressionism. Created to accompany a major traveling exhibition of works of the Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, "Artists at Continent's End "places the movement in its art-historical context, comparing its achievement with other approaches including the Barbizon style, art nouveau, arts-and-crafts, and impressionism. "Copub: Crocker Art Museum"

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vi
Introduction: A Place Where Great Souls Mingle	p. 1
A New Eden: Jules Tavernier and the Beginning of Monterey's Art Colony	p. 11
Listening to the Earth: William Keith and George Inness	p. 39
Evening Meditations: Charles Rollo Peters and the Mystery of Monterey	p. 59
Pacific Parnassus: Arthur and Lucia Mathews's Arcadia by the Sea	p. 83
An Atmosphere of Nostalgia: Evelyn McCormick and the "Adobe Painters"	p. 111
Manufacturing Dreams: Francis McComas and California "Reductivism"	p. 131
Eternal Spirit: Gottardo Piazzoni and the Reverence for Land and Sea	p. 153
Altars of an Undiscovered Shore: Arnold Genthe and the Colony at Carmel-by-the-Sea	p. 179
Conclusion: A Fabulous Dawn Darkened	p. 203
Biographies
William Adam	p. 215
Mary Brady	p. 217
Charles Dickman	p. 219
Harry Stuart Fonda	p. 223
Maren Froelich	p. 226
Charles Bradford Hudson	p. 228
Isabel Hunter	p. 230
Christian Jorgensen	p. 232
Charles Chapel Judson	p. 235
Bertha Stringer Lee	p. 238
Xavier Martinez	p. 240
Mary DeNeale Morgan	p. 245
Eugen Neuhaus	p. 248
Jane Gallatin Powers	p. 252
Granville Redmond	p. 253
Julian Walbridge Rix	p. 258
Meyer Straus	p. 261
Elizabeth Strong	p. 263
Joseph Dwight Strong Jr.	p. 266
Leon Trousset	p. 270
Arthur Vachell	p. 272
Carl von Perbandt	p. 274
Theodore Wores	p. 276
Sydney Jones Yard	p. 279
Raymond Dabb Yelland	p. 281
Notes	p. 287
Selected Bibliography	p. 331
Index	p. 339
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