Art museum to host Hopper, Bellows exhibits

Veronica Duran

During the next six months, the Orange County Museum of Art will bring

Edward Hopper and George Bellows to town. The two artists will be

featured in an exhibit called “In the City: Urban Views 1900-1940

selections from the Whitney Museum of Art.”

More than 50 works from American artists who were inspired by urban

landscapes will be displayed, said Brian Langston, director of marketing

and public relations. Other artists include William Glackems and Robert

Hemri.

It will be one of the most significant shows the museum has ever had, he

said.

“This work is accessible,” he said. “It looks like what it is. Much of it

is beautiful, engaging and intelligent.”

He said that it speaks in a profound way of the transformation from

provincial town to major urban centers. It has to do with the “exciting

panorama city life,” bringing restaurants, movies and parks into the

limelight.

“These artists helped to create a new vision of a country in search of a

cultural identity.”

The show will run Oct. 16 to 23.

These artists “were very urban,” Langston said. “They took bold steps to

begin to paint. They wanted to paint everyday life and get away from

European academic painting. It was the first American Revolution in

American painting.”

This fall, the museum will also feature the Pacific Craft Show, a juried

exhibition and sale of fine art crafts in glass, wood, fiber, metal and

ceramics.

On Sept. 24 at 6 p.m., the museum will hold a grand celebration,

including food and drinks to kick off the event. The $75 tickets will

benefit education and exhibition programs, Langston said. For the rest of

the week, Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, the craft show will be free.

“We’ve attracted acclaimed and well-known artists primarily from the West

Coast and throughout the country to display their art,” Langston said.

The artists were selected by a jury of museum experts, craft collectors

and craft owners, Langston said.

The museum will host a family craft day Sept. 25 and 26. Visitors may

look at permanent exhibitions and see the craft show. And they will be

able to buy craft items.

For a museum with the mission to enhance the appreciation of the art of

California, Langston said the museum shows everything from idyllic

California impressionist painting to the provocative, cutting-edge art of

today.

“We enhance that mission by showing exhibitions that provide a little

more context,” Langston said.