Edwin Deakin
Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque
Crocker Art Museum
January 26 April 20, 2008
Title: Palace of Fine Arts and the Lagoon, ca. 1915.
Artist: Edwin Deakin (American 1838-1923)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 32 3/8 x 48 3/8 in.
Collection: Crocker Art Museum,
long-term loan from the California Department of Finance,
conserved with funds provided by Gerald D. Gordon.
Image Courtesy: Crocker Art Museum
Romantic, picturesque and nostalgic are oft used to describe Edwin Deakin's oeuvre.
The English aristocrat hailed from Sheffield. As a young boy he roamed the countryside finding inspiration for his creativity. He emigrated to the United States of America finding early success in Chicago painting portraits of Civil War Heroes.
After Deakin made his way to San Francisco, in 1870, he studied with and shared a studio with
Samuel Marsden Brookes, together they founded the Bohemian Club.
Deakin began to study the Missions in San Francisco seeing them as a subject for his artwork.
He spent some time in Europe residing in both London and Paris. He was honored
to have two works accepted to the Paris Salon of 1879, Mont Blanc and L'Eglise de Chelles, La Soir.
A retrospective is now on display in California honoring his artistic talent with a career-spanning exhibition.
Title: San Gabriel Mission, n.d.
Artist: Edwin Deakin (American 1838-1923)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 22 3/4 x 35 1/2 in.
Permanent Collection: Crocker Art Museum,
Gift of Gerald D. Gordon.
Image Courtesy: Crocker Art Museum
The Crocker Art Museum is one of the primary resources for the study and appreciation of the art of California, said Scott A. Shields,
exhibition curator and author of the accompanying Deakin catalogue. It is thus exceptionally appropriate that the Museum should exhibit the
work of a premier, yet under-recognized California artist, Edwin Deakin.
The artist was very familiar with the gallery celebrating his talent: The Crocker Art Gallery. Edwin Deakin visited it in 1888, three years after Margaret Crocker donated the gallery building and its collections to the citizens of Sacramento. Impressed, Deakin
commented that the city possessed
a great treasure in such a property. Nineteen paintings
included in the show were recently entrusted to the Crocker by the State of California. Deakin
considered these paintings to be among his most significant works and never sold them.
Edwin Deakin: California Painter of the Picturesque
Crocker Art Museum:
January 26 April 20, 2008
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno
TBD
|
