Remembering an old master

Bill Anderson has more than 100 works by American artist Milford Zornes in his Sunset Beach gallery. But there’s one special piece that he’s still trying to find.

That would be an ink drawing of the California coast that Anderson watched Zornes begin at his Claremont home two years ago. The 100-year-old artist died the next day, and the picture, presumably, was the last Zornes ever created. Anderson hasn’t the drawing, but he remembers the moment well.

“He said, ‘You know, when you’re driving down the coast and you look inland and you see the light coming through the trees . . . ,’” said Anderson, who left Zornes’ home when the artist took a break from drawing to rest.

Zornes, who began his career in the 1920s and, by his own account, painted virtually every day, was one of the most prolific American artists of his time. To Anderson, though, he was more. The two met in 1994 when Anderson curated an exhibit of American watercolorists in Mexico City, and they remained friends until Zornes’ death.

Now, the Anderson Art Gallery is celebrating Zornes’ birthday with “American Master,” a show of his paintings, drawings and prints that will have its opening reception Sunday. The gallery started a tradition last year of putting on a Zornes show the month of his birth.

Anderson and Zornes painted together at least once a week and took trips together to Hawaii, the Southwest and other places to find new material. The two, Anderson said, would often talk philosophically about art as they drove.

“He was filled with so many words of wisdom,” Anderson said. “More than anything, talking with him was kind of an education in a lot of ways. He was very thoughtful about his art.”

Zornes, born in small-town Oklahoma in 1908, came to national prominence in the 1930s and created federally funded artworks under the Franklin Roosevelt administration. During World War II, he served as an Army artist in China, Burma and India. Some of his works from this period appear in Anderson’s show.

George Morris, president of the CCAA Museum of Art in Rancho Cucamonga, also does a Zornes show every January and said there was no shortage of new pieces out there. His show for 2011 will consist of works the artist sold to private collectors.

“He has a national reputation,” Morris said. “It’s always hard to figure who winds up in the big pantheon or not. But he deserves to be there, certainly.”

Anderson has already covered many of the walls with Zornes’ artwork. All the show pieces are for sale, and Anderson hopes to part with at least a few.

“The main thing I’m concerned with is keeping his work out there so his reputation continues to grow, as I believe it should,” he said.

If You Go

What: “American Master,” an exhibit by Milford Zornes

Where: Anderson Art Gallery, 16812 Pacific Coast Hwy., Sunset Beach

When: 1 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday and by appointment; opening reception 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday; closing reception 1 to 3 p.m. March 28

Contact: (562) 592-4393