The Hilbert Museum of California Art has one of the world’s largest collections of California narrative art and recently reopened after undergoing a 3-year expansion project.  Affiliated with Chapman University, the museum is located in Old Towne Orange.

We will carpool to the Hilbert, arriving in Orange at 9:00AM for breakfast at the Streamliner Café,  across from the museum.  Our reservation to view the collection is at 10:00AM.   It will take us between 1 to 1 ½ hours to walk the galleries and we should be back in Pasadena by 12:30PM.  Admission to the museum is free.

Below is a description of the exhibitions currently on display.  I’ll send participants more detailed directions and information as we get closer to the event. 

• Selections from The Hilbert Permanent Collection (curated by Gordon McClelland in the North Wing Galleries): Eight galleries in the North Wing are dedicated to showcasing the vast variety of oil and watercolor paintings, prints and drawings in The Hilbert Collection in chronological order, from the late 1800s through the Depression-era rise of the California regionalist Scene Painting style to the works of contemporary Golden State artists working today. These galleries will regularly rotate new works into the mix. Featured artists in the opening round include Emil Kosa Jr., David Hockney, Phil Dike, Sueo Serisawa, Vanessa Helder, Rex Brandt, Serena Potter, Francis de Erdely, Frank Romero, Jesse Arms Botke, Edgar Payne, Burr Singer, Wayne Thiebaud and others.
• “Millard Sheets” (Curated by Jean Stern from The Hilbert Collection and other collections in the South Wing Galleries): Millard Sheets (1907-1989), perhaps the most celebrated of California 20^th-century artists, could do it all: he was a superb painter, muralist, mosaicist, designer and teacher. His extraordinary work is represented here by 40 original paintings selected from The Hilbert Collection and other collections – and simultaneously honors Sheets’ gloriously restored “Pleasures Along the Beach” mosaic on the museum’s west-facing façade.
• “A Matter of Style: Modernism in California Scene Art: 1930-1970s” (Curated by Gordon McClelland from The Hilbert Collection and other collections in the South Wing Galleries): This selection of works by California artists Agnes Pelton, Roger Kuntz, Helen Lundeberg, Conrad Buff, Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Susan Hertel, Keith Crown and others chronicles the groundbreaking impact of Modernism on the California Scene genre in the early 20^th century.
• “Mary Blair’s Wonderland: Imagining Disney’s Alice” (Curated by Mary Platt from the Hilbert Collection in the Cinema Arts Galleries): Curated from The Hilbert Collection’s rich animation holdings is this ultimate Alice tribute to Disney artist Mary Blair (1911-1978), encompassing both Blair’s Alice in Wonderland concept art and original Alice art by other Disney illustrators created for picture books, record albums and advertising.
• “Norman Rockwell: Capturing the American Spirit” (Curated by Mary Platt from the Bank of America Collection and the Hilbert Collection in the James L. and Lynne P. Doti Gallery of American Illustration):  The beloved illustrator and classically American visual storyteller (1894-1978) is feted through original paintings, drawings and artist prints selected from The Hilbert Collection and on loan from the Bank of America Collection.
• “Eye Dazzlers: Marvels of Navajo Weaving from the Hilbert Collection” (Curated by Mary Platt in the Founders Gallery of Native American Art): These “eye dazzler” blankets woven by Navajo women in the late 1800s and early 1900s were known for their vibrant colors, intricate patterns and bold, geometric forms – many of which seem to anticipate the work of later color-field artists and modernist painters.
• “Emigdio Vasquez: Works from the Fred Ortiz Collection” (Curated by Fred Ortiz in the South Wing Galleries):  Emigdio Vasquez (1939-2014), the acclaimed Chicano artist, muralist and teacher who started his career capturing scenes of everyday life in Orange’s historic Barrio District, is saluted with this selection of his social-realist paintings, curated by his longtime friend and local resident Fred Ortiz.
• “Art of the Airwaves: Radios from The Hilbert Collection” (Curated by Clark Silva in the Founders Gallery of American Design): Vintage radio takes on a bold new meaning with this collection of Bakelite and plastic shelf and tabletop radios from the 1930s to the 1950s. From Art Deco wonders to modernist pieces in rich colors and textures, these radios were designed by some of the top industrial artists in the world.