Along with all of the art festivals and art walks taking place in Orange County this summer, art enthusiasts should pay a visit to The Irvine Museum to view its newest exhibition, “A Summer Idyll: Picturesque Views of California,” which opened June 25 and runs through October 6. A delightful celebration of summer in the Golden State, the current exhibit combines a stunning selection of works by historic and contemporary California artists painted over the past 100 years.
“A Summer Idyll” features the work of historic California impressionist artists Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), Emil Kosa (1903-1968), Donna Schuster (1883-1953), George Gardner Symons (1863-1930), Guy Rose (1867-1925), and Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977), among others. Highlights include Kleitsch’s Red and Green, which portrays the artist’s wife, Edna, and a friend strolling the gardens of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Additionally, a beautiful watercolor painting by Kosa entitled Lunch in the Park, shows a family’s summer outing beneath the shade of a grove of trees.
In keeping with the past summer exhibitions of 2014 and 2015, The Irvine Museum recognizes the thriving school of contemporary landscape painters, so several works by prominent plein air painters working in the United States are also on display. John Crosby’s On the Edge is a large, notable work that depicts cliffside homes in Shell Beach (a seaside community on California’s Central Coast), while Jim McVicker’s Lavender Gladiolus and Sunflowers captures a bouquet of elegant summer flowers set against a background of woven oriental rugs. Museum visitors can also enjoy paintings by contemporary plein air masters Jesse Powell, Bryan Mark Taylor, Mian Situ, Steven Mirich, Rita Pacheco, and West Fraser, among others.
The Irvine Museum is open 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and admission is free. For more information, visit www.irvinemuseum.org.
