Disney artist, Art Landy, became the President of the Whittier Art Association & Gallery, 1948-49. Through his leadership, the Association expanded its outreach to youth by providing the first school district art exhibit, and
giving free art lessons to hundreds of children.
Click on the Pluto’s Blue Note image to watch this wonderful cartoon. The backgrounds were created by Art Landy.
The Circle of Confusion, Whittier’s Camera Club, holds their 9th International Salon of Photography.
The Whittier Art Gallery walls were filled with 157 prints from England, Canada, Mexico, India, and the US.
“Color transparencies” (color slides), were also entered into this exhibit, and were shown for the first time.
Ben Messick, Disney artist and nationally recognized painter exhibits at the gallery. His work had been shown at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Carnegie Institute. His work is handled by the Francis Taylor Gallery in Beverly Hills.
Harry Muir Kurtzworth
𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘥, 1946
West Lake Park, Los Angeles
Pastel, 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.
Ida O’Keeffe exhibits realistic and abstract oil paintings in the main floor (large) gallery. Water colors and oils by Phillipa Mansur are shown in the “annex”, a small gallery space usually reserved for the artwork of local, emerging artists.
Ida O’Keeffe’s oil paintings, 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴, and 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘓𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴, were painted in 1946. They are part of private collections in Whittier. Sue Canterbury, a curator from the Dallas Museum of Art, visited Whittier in preparation for the exhibition 𝘐𝘥𝘢 𝘖’𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦, 𝘌𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘢’𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸.
Nelbert Chouinard, director and founder of the Chouinard Art Institute, came to speak at the Whittier Art Gallery. She “predicted tremendous strides for art in the Post-War world.”
Walt Disney gets ‘doctor of fine arts’ degree. Nelbert Chouinard (1879-1969), is the Director of the Chouinard Art Institute that she founded in 1921.
Millard Sheets, Dan Lutz, Etinne Ret, Clarence Hinkle, Russell Clowels, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, Grigory Gluckman, and *Rubin exhibit paintings loaned by the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries. The paintings in the exhibit are valued at $200,000.
*[Believed to be Reuven (Zelicovici) Rubin (1893-1974)]
Millard Sheets
𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘴, 1933 – 1934
Oil on canvas, 401/4 in. X 501/4 in.
Ralph Hulett exhibits California landscapes and marines. He studied four years at Chouinard Art Institute. S. McDonald Wright, Script Magazine writer, wrote:
“Ralph Hulett’s watercolors exemplify the best pictorial methods of what has now come
to be called the California School.”
Ralph Hulett
𝘚𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦
Watercolor, 22 X 30 in.
Tyrus Wong exhibits watercolors at the gallery during September, 1947. He was Production illustrator for Walt Disney’s Bambi, working at the Disney Studios from 1938-1941. He was an illustrator for Warner Brothers Studios during World War II. By 1947, Tyrus Wong was devoting all of his time to painting.
This movie theater ad appeared in the Whittier News on August 9, 1943
Note: Bambi was Walt Disney’s fifth animated feature film. It is interesting to remember that this film would have only been viewed in movie theaters. Whittier had three movie theaters in town, which was a major form of entertainment. It was the early 1950s when it became more common to have a black and white television In your home. Bambi was not released on color video tape until 1989.
c. 1942
The Artist’s Guild of Southern California, Traveling Exhibit exhibited the paintings of artists with club affiliations
with the California Art Club, the California Water Color Society, The American Artist’s Professional League, the Laguna Beach Art Association, and the Whittier Art Association. The “oils and water colors exhibited in both
modern and conservative styles of technique are shown”.
Tyrus Wong, Ralph Hulett, and Davis Miller are selected for the Whittier Art Association Member’s Show jury. The Whittier Art Gallery showed the artwork of Whittier Art Association members in a competitive exhibit twice each year. The Exhibits were juried by a group of three know as “the Jury of Selection”, and the “Jury of Awards”, a group
of three professional artists, chose the award winners. Most of the Jury of Awards judges had previously had solo shows at the gallery.
Loren Barton, nationally known artist and art instructor faculty member, teaches oil and water color painting
at the Whittier Art Gallery. Her paintings are represented by the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries in L.A.’s
Ambassador Hotel.
The Circle of Confusion, Whittier’s Camera Club, received over 1300 entries for their Eleventh Annual Salon of Photography exhibit at the Whittier Art Gallery. Black and white prints and color slides were submitted. Entries
were received from Sweden, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, and India.
The California Water Color Society exhibits 30 paintings at the gallery in March of 1948. The exhibit, is unit of the California Water Color Society’s Traveling Show. Some of the exhibiting artists are, Milford Zornes, Tyrus Wong, Robert Kennicott, and Phil Dike. Phil Dike speaks at the opening reception. His talk is titled,
“California Water Color Painting”.
The Circle of Confusion Camera Club exhibited their 11th Annual International Salon of Photography in February,
of 1948. The two week record of 2,875 visitors, attended the exhibit of prints at the Whittier Art Gallery and the display of color slides at the Jonathan Bailey School.
The Circle of Confusion Camera Club was named at the Whittier Art Gallery on July 8, 1940. For many
years before 1940, the group was very active and known as Whittier’s Camera Club. The Circle of Confusion
held their Annual Salon of Photography (a competitive exhibit), at the Whittier Art Gallery for over 20 years.
The photographs (prints) were displayed at the gallery, and the color slide entries (originally called transparencies), were shown at the Jonathan Bailey Schoolhouse where there was space to accommodate a large audience.
Edgar Starr exhibits water color and tempora paintings at the gallery through April. He was a color stylist and
artist for the Disney Studios, illustrating a children’s book [the Disney Big Golden Book, Bongo, in 1947].
The Whittier Art Gallery provides its first Jr. Art Exhibit, December 5 through January 2 of 1948. It was a
competitive exhibit of student artwork from the Whittier City Schools.
The first Jr. Art Exhibit featured at the Whittier Art Gallery, attracted thousands of visitors. Classrooms of students toured the exhibit during December of 1948. Each teacher signed the gallery’s guest book, indicating the number of students visiting from their class.
Note: The student art exhibit tradition was reinstated in 2007. The Whittier Art Association Board of Directors looks forward to providing grants to fund annual student art exhibits for both the Whittier City and East Whittier City School Districts.
Originals of Currier and Ives prints, are shown at the gallery. There are 21 original prints in the valuable collection. The collection, used on the Travelers calendars since 1936, has been “on circuit among outstanding museums in the nation, and comes to Whittier from Aurora Illinois”.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦
The Circle of Confusion 12th Annual International Photo Salon exhibits 133 prints and 236 color slides selected
from nearly 1400 entries. Photographs were submitted from Canada, England, India, Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Hungry.
Milford Zornes exhibits oils, tempera and water color paintings in his one-man show at the Whittier Art Gallery.
He will be the guest speaker at the gallery’s open meeting.
Milford Zornes was Water Color Society President, 1941 – 1942.
Milford Zornes
𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯, 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 1956
Watercolor
Art Landy and other prominent Southern California artists will be teaching art classes for children free of charge. More than 400 children are signed up for the art classes.
Milford Zornes serves on the jury of awards for the Whittier Art Gallery’s Spring Artist Member’s show. Also on the jury are F. Tolles Chamberlain and Mrs. Wm. Higbee. Judges for Whittier Art Association competitive exhibits were non-member professional artists.
