California Art Club - The Postwar California Art Club

The Postwar California Art Club

The war years were a slow time for all arts organizations. With millions of men in uniform and the United States facing what were seen as existential threats in Europe and Asia, there was less interest in exhibitions of art. Some of the younger artists were involved in the war efforts and the founders of the California Art Club and its best known names had reached old age. By the conclusion of World War II, most of the original en plein air painters who had been active in the 1920s and 1930s were no longer active in running the club's affairs. Generally, the leadership of the organization passed to lesser painters, men and women who had been students of the older generation of en plein air painters. The CAC exhibits, which had been in museums and in the Hollyhock House, were held in less prestigious venues and patronage became a secondary concern. Victor Matson was President of the California Art Club in 1961 and 1962. He was a landscape painter and an able organizer who had been active in many of the Southland art organizations. By the late 1960s and 1970s, the ranks of the California Art Club consisted primarily of amateur artists, but there was still a small group of professional painters that were active.