Colonies of American Impressionism: Cos Cob, Old Lyme, Shinnecock, and Laguna Beach

As cultural theorists often enjoy pointing out, Southern California, with its motion picture, television, and aerospace industries, is the mecca of artificial culture. In this "here-today-gone-tomorrow" culture, our history has traditionally has been trivialized and discarded, leaving a great deal of the past for us to excavate. Laguna Beach and the Laguna Beach Art Association (the present day Laguna Art Museum) have stood at the center of another sort of culture in Southern California for more than eighty years. From the turn of the century through the 1930's, Laguna Beach was home to the most significant artists' colony on the Pacific Coast. The Laguna Art Museum has been not only the focal point of this art colony but, for the last twenty years, instrumental in uncovering its history as well. Through exhibitions and catalogues such as William Wendt 1865-1946, Early Artists in Laguna Beach: The Impressionists, and California Light 1900-1930, the Museum has explored, and indeed developed, its rich local art history. Along with The Oakland Museum of California, it has been at the forefront of a trend among California museums to focus on regional history, including the Impressionist movement that was centered in Laguna Beach. More recently, The Irvine Museum has devoted considerable efforts to this subject matter as well. What is missing from the many exhibitions originated on this subject is one placing California Impressionism and the art colony in Laguna Beach within the national content. The art colonies that developed at the turn of the century in Cos Cob and Old Lyme, Connecticut, or Shinnecock , Long Island, for example, bear many resemblance, as well as differences, to the growth and popularity of Laguna Beach. The idea for this book came from the Museum's exhibitions committee, an advisory group of curators and art historians who specialize in California art.