Category: Articles

1929 December 27, ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™– ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™– ๐˜ฟ๐™–๐™ž๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง:

The prosperous Roaring Twenties came to an abrupt end with the stock market crash, October 24, 1929.
The Laguna Beach Art Association occurred some debt. The Art Association’s artists held three art auctions to
raise funds to pay-off the debt. Both Mabel Haig and her close friend, Anna Hills, donated paintings to be sold for
the benefit of the Art Association.

1930 June 27, ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Mabel George Haig exhibits at the Laguna Beach Art Gallery in July, 1930. Her water color painting, Shanty Town
is entry #18. Some of the other participating artists are George Brandriff, Benjamin Brown, Frank Cuprien, Elanor Colburn, Phil Dike, Clyde Forsythe, William Griffith, Anna A. Hills, Joseph Kleitsch, Hanson Puthuff, Edgar Payne,
and Donna Schuster.

1934 June 1, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Laguna Beach Art Association past president, William Griffith, spoke at the galleryโ€™s open meeting. โ€œHe
encouraged the members of the Whittier [Art] Association in the belief that Whittier too, can be made an
important art and cultural centerโ€.ย  He went on to say, โ€œI wish you all the luck in the world, and Laguna will do everything possible to help youโ€.

1934 July 27, ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

The South Coast News, announces that Whittier has organized an Art Association โ€œfor the whole surrounding community between Los Angeles and Laguna Beachโ€. The Association is sponsoring art classes in water color landscape by Mabel George Haig; life drawing by Eleanor Colburn, sculpture by Ruth Peabody, and pottery by
pupils of Glen Lukens.

1934 August 20, ๐™‡๐™ค๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข๐™š๐™จ:

The Los Angeles Times Newspaper announces that the writing of the late Anna Hills, โ€œHow to Judge Picturesโ€,
will be read at a meeting of the Whittier Art Association.ย  Anna Hills was one of the cofounders of the
Laguna Beach Art Center and Gallery.

Note: The correct title of the document is โ€œHow to Judge a Pictureโ€, written by Anna Hills for a talk she gave about two months before she passed away in 1930.

1938 December 6, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Ground breaking exercises were held at 727 South Painter Avenue, attended by Art Association members and representatives of leading civic organizations. Mrs. Mryon Haig, president of the Whittier Art Association, accepted the deed of the property on which would be built the new home of the Whittier Art Center. She turned at least one shovel of dirt to speed up the actual building work.ย 
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย 
Note:ย  The galleryโ€™s original address of 727 So. Painter Ave. was changed to 8035 Painter Ave. in the 1960s.

1939 January 27, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

The Whittier Art Gallery was given warm support from the Whittier Woman’s Club, Jr. Woman’s Club,ย East Whittier Woman’s Club, the Business and Professional Woman’s Club, the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), and organizations in every school district, covering the entire community.ย  The town’s businessmen also contributed.

1939 April 16, ๐™‡๐™ค๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข๐™š๐™จ:

Arthur Millier reports that 600 visitors attended the galleryโ€™s opening night. He closed with, โ€œBecause the gallery is so fine, it has already been offered exhibitions ofย a quality which ordinarily Whittier would never have a chance to see. Whittier hasย shown Southern California the wayโ€.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Arthur Millier,ย 
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย April 16, 1939, ๐˜“๐˜ฐ๐˜ด ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜›๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด

1939 April 16th, ๐™‡๐™ค๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข๐™š๐™จ

Phil Dike exhibits water colors with thirteen other artists at the Whittier Art Galleryโ€™s
Opening Exhibition.

Note: Phil Dike was California Water Color Society President in 1938. He was employed by the Walt Disney
Studios 1935 โ€“ 1945, where he taught drawing composition. He contributed to both Snow White and Fantasia.
Phil Dike was a key figure in the development of California style of water color painting.

1939 July 25, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

An oil painting, nearly 400 years old, is discovered in an East Whittier home. The painting by Venetian master,
Paris Bordone, had once hung in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and had not been seen by the
public for over 35 years. The painting was shown at the Whittier Art Gallery and the public was invited to hear
a special lecture.

1939 August 11, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Rex Brandt and other artists from the Progressive Art Center of Southern California, exhibit โ€œmodernโ€ paintings at the Gallery. Young artist Rex Brandt, became a nationally recognized artist and Associate of the National Academy
of Design. He returned to have a solo exhibit at the Whittier Art Gallery in December of 1957.ย ย 

Looking Back, 1940 – 1944

The Whittier Art Gallery continued to exhibit the work of prominent artists while bracing for World War II and living through the most difficult of the War years. Exhibits of the work of Edgar Payne, Enjar Hansen, Eleanor Colburn, Clyde Forsythe, Sam Hyde Harris, Hanson Puthuff, and others, […]

1940 January 8, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง:

The exhibit of Richard Munsell ย oil and water color paintings was proclaimed, “Years outstanding local one-man painting show”, by Arthur Millier, Los Angeles Times art critic. Richard Munsell was a California Art Club exhibiting Member, 1935 – 1938. He taught at the Chouinard Art Institute.

1941 January, 4, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Architect William Harrison, who donated the plans for the Whittier Art Gallery in 1938, is praised by the
๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Œ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜”๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ.

1941 June 4, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Pruett Carter, illustrator, exhibits illustrations from such magazines as ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ, ๐˜”๐˜ค ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ด, and ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ.
He is considered as โ€œone of the top ranking Illustrators for popular magazinesโ€.

1942 April 3, ๐™’๐™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™š๐™ง ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ๐™จ:

Edgar Payne exhibits oil paintings. He is the author of ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต, and ๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜–๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ
(published 1941). He is โ€œone of the best known American artistsโ€ฆโ€.