American Art: A Catalogue of
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (1991):
Introduction
This catalogue documents the paintings, sculptures, and watercolors
in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's collection of historical
American art. Works included date from before 1940 with two exceptions:
representational works created after 1940 by artists who came to
prominence in the preceding years and prize winning watercolors by
members of the California Water Color Society from the period 1930
to 1954. The latter is the only such collection in a public institution.
Some artists included here are also represented in the museum's collection
by later works or works in different media; pastels, drawings, and
prints are omitted as are works made by immigrant artists before
they came to the United States. No works that entered the collection
after December 31, 1987, have been included.
The introduction provides a general history of the museum's collection
of American art, and the special nature of the watercolor holdings
is explained in a brief note preceding that section of the catalogue.
Owing to the strength of the museum's holdings in works by Southern
California artists and by visitors to the area, more detailed biographical
information is provided for the regional artists, and the visitors'
associations with, Southern California are pointed out. Unfortunately
documentation on these artists was hampered somewhat by recent major
fires in two local archives with unique holdings, the Hollywood and
Los Angeles Central Public Libraries.
Entries are divided into paintings, sculptures, and watercolors.
Brief biographies of the artists and suggestions for further reading
are provided for the general reader and as a background to the discussion
of the individual works. The entries open up central questions in
the interpretation of each work, providing biographical and historical
context and/or iconographic and stylistic analysis. The listings
of previous owners, exhibitions, and references to art-related literature
aim toward completeness.
A generous grant from the Luce Fund for Scholarship in American
Art, a program of the Henry Luce Foundation, awarded in 1982 enabled
the American Art department to undertake a thorough and systematic
study of the collection and partially underwrote this publication.
We would like to express our appreciation to the Luce Foundation
for the initial funding of the project. We would like also to thank
the museum's American Art Council for underwriting the cost of additional
color plates, and thank James Ries, who was instrumental in raising
funds for color reproductions of California works of art; these were
made possible by donations from Buck Fine Arts, Daniel Hansman/Marcel
Binh, William A. Karges Fine Art, Jack Kenefick, Orr's Gallery and
Group, Petersen Galleries, Millard Sheets Designs, Stary-Sheets Gallery,
George Stern Fine Arts, and James and Linda Ries.
The cataloging of the collection was begun with the encouragement
of Earl A. Powell III, himself a scholar in the field of American
art. We would like to thank him as well as the museum's board of
trustees for their support. The research and the beginnings of a
catalogue were started by assistant curator of American art Nancy
D. W. Moure before she left the museum in 1983. The project was continued
by Ilene Susan Fort, who became assistant curator in 1983 and is
now associate curator. She researched the collection and oversaw
additional staff who conducted primary research and checked the accuracy
of the final text. The contribution of research assistant Dana Sebrée
was essential, and we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude
for her thoroughness and conscientiousness. Thanks also are due Philip
Armstrong, Trudi Casamassima, Mary-Alice Cline, and Gregory A. Dobie
for their assistance. The secretaries in the American Art department
who worked on the catalogue in different stages were Ondine Jarl,
Jennifer McNeil, Lisa Murphy, Lisa Weber, and Sheila White. The final
text was written by Ilene Susan Fort and Michael Quick, curator. 
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