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WHAT DO THESE WORKS OF ART HAVE IN COMMON?
All these works of art were created by Artists Guild members. They represent eighty-six years of creativity that the Guild has fostered through support of its members and the San Diego Museum of Art which it helped found.
To celebrate its Centennial in 2015, The Artists Guild is researching the Guild’s rich history. One hundred artists who have contributed to the life of the arts in San Diego (and way beyond our borders) will be highlighted in a work 100 Artists: 100 Years.
Perhaps the title Alive and Kicking: The Artists Guild would tell the story better.
The History Committee of the Artists Guild welcomes your input into our telling of the stories of past Guild artists. Please contact us at history@sdmaag.org
Belle Baranceanu 1902-1988
The Yellow Robe
Oil on canvas
1927
This expressionist portrait is of the artist’s sister. The Museum has three of Baranceanu’s works in its permanent collection. The other two are a woodcut and a lithograph. Baranceanu taught extensively including teaching at the Museum Art School. She left her mark on remarkable murals around San Diego. She served as Guild President in 1950. (See http://www.sdmaag.org/who-was-belle-baranceanu)
Harry Sternberg 1904-2001
Locomotives
Etching
1930
Sternberg was a painter, a printmaker an educator and an activist. He created many works about the story of life itself. The Museum owns eighty seven of Sternberg’s works including a number of woodcuts and a variety of other prints, sketches and acrylic paintings.
Renata Spiazzi b. 1926
Whispers of the Sea
Fractal Fine Art
2007
With a lifetime of accomplishments as a painter and sculptor behind her, Spiazzi turned to the computer in 1961 and began a whole new career pioneering new techniques in digital art. “I like to think of fractals as dream landscapes that continue over the frame and allow the viewer to continue the dream.” www.spiazzi.com
Leon Durrand Bonnet 1868-1936
Clearing
Oil on canvas
ca. 1936
Bonnet was one of the Group of Contemporary Artists who brought the ‘new’ to San Diego in 1929. His love of nature is apparent in his work which radiates with reflection. He said he was drawn to bodies of water “perhaps because they are never the same and are constantly presenting new aspects to the viewer.”
Rex Brandt 1914-2000
Desert Crossroads Victorville
Watercolor over graphite
1942
Brandt was one of the most important and influential figures in the Early California Scene Painter style. He founded a school of watercolor studies along with Phil Dike and left many records of his extensive teaching. This is the only piece of his work that the Museum owns.
Charles Arthur Fries 1854 - 1940
Point Loma from Logan Heights
Oil on canvas undated
ca. 1935
Fries is often referred to as “The Dean of San Diego Painters.” You have to look twice to recognize Logan Heights in Fries’ plein-air painting of Point Loma. Fries served as Guild President in 1919. He was part of the group Contemporary Artists of 1929.
The Museum has eight of Fries’ works in its permanent collection.
Sherman Trease 1889-1941
Indian Village
Monotype
ca. 1928
Trease was a landscape painter, a pioneering photographer, an etcher and an illustrator. He wrote an art coloumn for the San Diego Union newspaper. He served as Guild President in 1934-1936. He was the first President of the Spanish Village Art Center. This is the only work by Trease that the Museum owns.
Donal Hord 1902-1966
La Cubana
Obsidian
1937-1939
Hord’s love of indigenous people is seen in much of his work. La Tehuana which is the centerpiece of the courtyard in the House of Hospitality is a familiar reminder of his early work completed as a WPA project in 1936. La Cubana is one of fourteen sculptures and studies by Hord that the Museum owns. www.sdmaag.org/donal-hord-la-tehuana-1936
Lorenzo Foncerrada b. 1936
Rockstar Poledancer
Assemblage Fused Handbuilt Wood
2012
Foncerrada played as a child in the workshop of Donal Hord who has always inspired him. Foncerrada found a high density polyurethane material which allows him greater freedom to sculpt than the hardwood he has worked in for many years. The finish has a high gloss and, in fact, is the same finish applied to automobiles. www.sdmaag.org/lorenzo-foncerrada
Richard Becker
Homage to Homer
Bronze
2012
Becker’s work can be seen at the Emmy’s in commissioned portraits of the stars and at the new Miramar National Cemetery where his statue “The Liberation Moment” honors Ex-POWS www.richardbecker.com
Read more stories about the history of the Artists Guild here: www.sdmaag.org/about/
On the San Diego Museum of Art webpage, you can discover for yourself more of what the Museum has in its permanent collection by hovering over ART in the header, then click SEARCH THE COLLECTION. www.sdmart.org