More than meets the eye

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- When Marcus DeChevrieux, the curator at the Newport

Harbor Nautical Museum, starts talking about his job, his work sounds a

lot like that of a detective.

The Corona del Mar resident, whose passion for sailing and maritime

history has continued to grow ever since childhood, said that by looking

at 18th and 19th century ship paintings, he’s able to find out more than

is obvious to the untrained eye.

Reading the ship’s flags, DeChevrieux figures out the vessel’s name.

With that information, he can trace the ship to the yard where it was

built and discover its creators as well as its sailors as a result.

“Solving the small mysteries that are hidden in period maritime

paintings -- that fascinates me,” he said Thursday.

DeChevrieux, who said he’s a self-taught specialist on these

paintings, divides his time between the museum and The Kelton Foundation

in Los Angeles, which includes one of the largest private maritime

collections in the country.

“The idea was for me to marry a museum without a collection to a

collection without a museum,” he said as others were putting the

finishing touches on the museum’s latest exhibition in the grand salon,

which opened Thursday night.

Titled “Catalina and the Channel Islands -- Newport’s offshore

neighbors,” the show documents the islands’ nautical history, beginning

with prehistoric planked canoes to the pleasure yachts of today.

DeChevrieux, who has been with the museum for the past two years,

usually picks themes for the exhibits based on artifacts he knows he can

get, he said.

The Catalina exhibition came to him via the museum’s exhibit

committee, leaving him with the challenge to dig up paintings, models and

maps to fill the showcases.

“I pretty much had to start from scratch,” he said.

But one collector led to another and in the end, DeChevrieux brought

together objects from 60 different lenders for the exhibition.

And while drawing people’s attention to the more or less unknown

Channel Islands was partly his goal, he said that he hoped the island’s

pristine nature would not succumb to a influx of tourists as a result of

the show.

“I wanted to tell people the story and not tell them where it is,” he

said, laughing.

Although DeChevrieux doesn’t own a sailing boat himself, he said he’s

passionate about schooners.

Why?

“They’re antique rigs -- but that’s a whole other story,” he said,

before returning to the grand salon to get things ready for opening

night.

FYI

The exhibition continues until June 30. The museum is open Tuesday

through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is located on the Riverboat

“Pride of Newport” at 151 East Coast Highway. Information: (949)

673-7863.