Museum Collection: California Art June 18, 2009

Works by California artists are an area of great strength within the Modern and Contemporary collection. Bay Area figurative artists are well represented through works by David Park and Richard Diebenkorn. Southern California artists of the fifties are also present in the collection with works by Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Frederick Hammersley, and the leading figure of the Abstract Classicists, John McLaughlin. In addition, artists such as Larry Bell and John McCracken provide excellent examples of a generation of California artists who experimented with the use of industrial non-art materials. Works from the 1980s by California artists were added to the collection through gifts and purchases, including pieces by Jud Fine, Richard Ross and Alexis Smith. Works of the present decade by California artists include paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Hung Liu and Emilio Sanchez.