HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/12/2014 - City Arts Commission - 11 Staff Report Rex Brandt 100th Year Anniversary Agenda Item B.3.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff requests that the City Arts Commission approve a 100th Anniversary celebration for local artist Rex
Brandt.
FUNDING REQUIREMENTS:
The program will require funds for the lecturer’s honorarium and for light refreshments.
DISCUSSION:
2014 marks the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Rex Brandt. Born on September 12, 1914, Rex Brandt was an
artist renowned for his watercolor paintings of Newport Beach and Balboa Bay. Mr. Brandt served on the
Newport Beach Public Library Board of Trustees in the 1940s and 1950s, helped establish the Newport Harbor
Art Museum, and designed the Newport Beach City seal that has become iconic.
In 1937, he organized "The California Group," a traveling exhibition that promoted the California style of
watercolor painting. Brandt was involved with the Works Project Administration’s Art Project and in 1939 was
selected to exhibit in the New York World's Fair art exhibition, American Art Today. In 1947, he and painter Phil
Dike formed the Brandt-Dike Summer School of Painting in Corona del Mar. Mr. Brandt and his wife, artist Joan
Irving, shared their Corona del Mar home, "Blue Sky," with many students over the years. This became one of
the most successful watercolor schools in California during the 1950s. Through these classes and his many
instructional books on watercolor painting, Brandt educated and mentored a large number of professional
watercolor artists.
Mr. Brandt continued to refine his skills and developed the style of painting which would bring him
international recognition. Brandt's most well-known paintings celebrated a bygone era of California, depicting
open landscapes, unspoiled seascapes and rustic natural beauty.
Mr. Brandt passed away on March 21, 2000 in Corona del Mar, having painted nearly to the end of his life.
Source: Gordon McClelland and Jay Last, The California Style
http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?artist=4672
In honor of Rex Brandt, and his artistic and historical significance to Newport Beach, staff requests the City Arts
Commission approve a 100th Anniversary event in the Friends Room at Central Library on a date to be
determined in Autumn 2014. The program will include a lecture and exhibition of Rex Brandt’s work.
NOTICING:
This agenda item has been noticed according to the Brown Act (72 hours in advance of the meeting at which
the City Arts Commission considers the item).
TO: CITY ARTS COMMISSION
FROM: Library Services Department
Tim Hetherton, Library Services Director
949-717-3810, thetherton@newportbeachca.gov
PREPARED BY: Tim Hetherton
TITLE: Rex Brandt – 100th Year Anniversary event