Laguna museum is bringing together scattered works of Robert Henri
Welcome home, boys.
The Laguna Art Museum’s upcoming exhibit, “Robert Henri’s California: Realism, Race, and Region, 1914-1925,” features a dozen or so paintings that the artist made in Southern California over the course of a decade. At one point, according to curator Derrick Cartwright, Henri displayed his work in a show at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.
And then, like windblown family members, they scattered — into different museums, into private collectors’ homes, possibly into basements. So Cartwright, who teaches art history at the University of San Diego and obtained some of the Exposition Park pieces for “Robert Henri’s California,” believes the upcoming show will be a reunion of sorts.
“It’s fun to think about the fact that these works that were done in California went their separate ways and are now being brought together, about exactly 100 years later,” he said by phone last week.
“Robert Henri’s California,” which compiles portraits that the artist painted around San Diego and Los Angeles, is one of three exhibits opening this month at the Laguna Art Museum. In addition, the museum will feature “in Barcelona: a portfolio of prints by eight Los Angeles artists,” a joint effort by artists who worked in Spain in the 1980s, and “California Printmakers, 1950-2000,” compiled from the museum’s holdings and some private collections.
All three exhibits will run through May 31.
Executive Director Malcolm Warner, who has known Cartwright for more than 20 years, said he had long hoped that the two of them could collaborate on a Henri exhibit.
“I had that idea in mind from the moment I arrived at Laguna Art Museum,” he said. “Over the years, Derrick and I have periodically discussed what a great small exhibition Robert Henri’s California paintings would make.”
Whence the appeal? Henri’s California paintings, Warner believes, are a valuable document of life in the region in the early 20th century, with portraits of Chinese Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and African Americans capturing the features of everyday residents. Henri (pronounced “HEN-rye”), in the title of an essay included in the exhibit’s catalog, referred to them as “My People.”
“He treats ordinary people with the kind of sympathy and painterly flair that’s normally reserved for portraits of the great and famous,” Warner said.
The “California” show won’t be Henri’s first appearance at the Laguna Art Museum. According to Warner, his work has been featured at least two other times: once in 1958 in a show at the Laguna Beach Art Assn., the museum’s forerunner at the same address, and again in 1966 at a traveling exhibit on American painting.
Even for Henri enthusiasts, the pieces at the Laguna Art Museum may be a revelation, according to Cartwright.
“Most of these works have not been widely seen,” he said. “They tend live in the basements of museums or with private collectors, so it’s good to bring them together again.”
If You Go
What: “Robert Henri’s California: Realism, Race, and Region, 1914-1925,” “in Barcelona: a portfolio of prints by eight Los Angeles artists” and “California Printmakers, 1950-2000”
Where: Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays, Feb. 22 through May 31
Cost: $7 general, $5 students and seniors, free for children under 12 and museum members (all admission free the first Thursday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m.)
Information: (949) 494-8971 or lagunaartmuseum.org