Common Ground: Early 20th-Century Artist Communities in Southern California

UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA) presents Common Ground: Early 20th-Century Artist Communities in Southern California. The exhibition examines artistic communities in Laguna Beach, La Jolla, and los Angeles in the early 20th century and their influence on California plein air painting.

On view February 8 through May 17, 2025, the presentation of 36 paintings, works on paper, porcelain, and bronze pieces is organized by graduate students from UC Irvine’s Visual Studies Ph.D. program: Ileana De Giuseppe, Zachary Korol Gold, and Dada Wang.

Artists formed clubs and associations ranging from highly selective to open membership to cultivate friendships, enable artistic exchange, and show their work to the public. Key figures from each of these communities are represented alongside their stories. For example, George Gardner Symons and William Wendt traveled together and painted in each other’s company whereas Frank Cuprien and Maurice Braun transformed their homes into galleries and gathering places for fellow artists.

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Note: Langson IMCA is closed Sundays and Mondays.

William Alexander Griffith, In Laguna Canyon, before 1928, Oil on canvas, 30 ⅛ × 40 ¼ in. UC Irvine Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art. Gift of The Irvine Museum