Local gems shine at Casa Romantica’s ‘Gems of California Impressionism’ exhibition
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Crystal Cove. Mission San Juan Capistrano. Irvine Park. These are just a few of Orange County’s familiar treasures. They are also featured in Casa Romantica’s latest art exhibition, “Gems of California Impressionism.”
“You have the farmlands and the beautiful beaches represented, and about half the paintings [on display] are from this area,” said the exhibition’s curator, James Irvine Swinden.
Made up of masterworks from the James Irvine Swinden Family Collection and underwritten by the Traditional Fine Arts Organization, the exhibition at the Casa Art Gallery in San Clemente is full of recognizable landscapes and lauded names of the California Impressionism movement.
California Impressionism was inspired by the French Impressionists who coined the phrase “plein air,” the French term for “in the open air,” for the practice of painting outdoors. California Impressionists took to the practice as well, painting the state’s foothills, mountains and coastlines beginning in the late 19th century.
“This building was made at the same time many these works of art were made, so it is full of significance,” Swinden said to a crowd of art lovers attending a preview reception at Casa Romantica on March 20.
Curated by Swinden, a direct descendant of the Irvine family, the selection of 24 works on view gives visitors an idea of what Southern California — and Orange County in particular — looked like in the early part of the 20th century.
“This is Mission San Juan Capistrano,” Swinden said, motioning to a work by Joseph Kleitsch titled “San Juan Capistrano,” featuring trees shading the unmistakable adobe brick building. “We know this was painted after 1920, because the wall is up.”
Swinden points out another artwork, this one by Colin Campbell Cooper, of the historic Mission Revival style train station. It’s titled “Capistrano Train Station.”
“This painting was painted prior [to kleitsch’s rendering of the mission], because this is the train station and there is no wall,” said Swinden.
El Toro Road is significant to Swinden, since it separated the Irvine Ranch property from Mission Viejo; a work by Anna Hills depicting the thin, tall eucalyptus trees lining the road is among his favorites. He is fond of the palate knife work technique Hills used in the piece.
“She still had to play the game, because she wasn’t using her first name,” said Swinden, referring to the days when female artists were often sidelined because of their gender. “She was president of the Laguna Beach Art Assn. on two separate occasions, which never would have happened on the East Coast during that period of time.”
Hills also went on to advocate strongly for the founding of the Laguna Beach Art Museum.
Besides showcasing Orange County art, Swinden noted the exhibition is also a testimony to the taste of his mother. Joan Irvine Smith was a philanthropist, arts patron and heiress to the Irvine family fortune who began collecting California Impressionist art in the early 1990s.
“Most of the paintings resonate on some level, either because of their beauty, they have some historical significance or they talk about the duties we have as individuals to the environment,” said Swinden. “That was important to my mother.”
Smith hoped her collection would inspire stewardship of California’s natural resources and she tapped her son to help set up a museum that could house the collection. In 1993, Swinden became president and chief champion of the Irvine Museum.
“Her view was to use the art not only for the beauty, but also to make people aware of their social responsibility to the air, land and water,” Swinden said. “These paintings really spoke to her.”
In 2016, Swinden transferred the museum’s collection of California Impressionist paintings, then valued at approximately $17 million, to UC Irvine and he remains instrumental in championing regional California art.
On April 17, Swinden will return to Casa Romantica for an art lecture at 7 p.m. Family Sunday on May 4 will be “Plein Air Day” with plein air painting activities for the whole family.
“Gems of California Impressionism” is on view at Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, 415 Avenida Granada in San Clemente through June 15.
