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Now at the gallery

On the
More Modern
Side ...


a selection of paintings
from our gallery collection

featuring layerist works of Alexander Nepote,

oil paintings by Conrad Buff & Ferdinand Burgdorff,

and wotercolors by
Thelma Speed Houston
& Milford Zornes
Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery ... Exhibit ... On the More Modern Side

Alexander Nepote
1913 - 1986

Alexander was born and raised in the Central Valley. In the 1930's, he studied art at the California College of Arts and Crafts and then went on to receive his master's degree in fine arts from Mills College. When World War II broke out, Alexander was thirty-nine. He worked in the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond.
Alexander Nepote Green Pool Grotto
"Green Pool Grotto" Mixed Media, 31 x 48
After the war, he became a professor and Dean of the Faculty at the California College of Arts and Crafts, and then served as Art Professor at California State University, San Francisco.

Early on in his creative life, he was creating wet-into-wet landscapes of farms and city scenes. In the 40's, he became more abstract, with floating shapes and complex geometric compositions. In the 50's, he created more abstract landscapes, and in the 60's, he exhibited a fascination with rock shapes and textures, combining watercolors and experimental collage techniques.
Alexander Nepote
Alexander Nepote Colorful Cliff Grotto
"Colorful Cliff Grotto" Mixed Media 24 x 40
He was a founding member of a group known as "The Layerists," and placed his multi media works in their shows.
Alexander Roadside Produce Stand
Roadside Produce Stand
watercolor 15 x 22

Alexander Nepote Road to the Coast
Road to the Coast, 1957
Watercolor, 15 x 21
Alexander Nepote Landscape Before the Storm
(Unsigned, manner of Nepote)
Landscape Before the Storm
Watercolor, 11 3/4 x 17 3/4

Blue Mountain Conrad Buff
Blue Mountain
Oil on masonite
18 x 24
From a Cave Conrad Buff
From a cave
Oil on paper 9 x 12
Self Portrait Conrad Buff
Self Portrait
Conrad Buff
1886 - 1975
Mary Buff by Conrad Buff
Mary Buff
Oil on paperboard
23 3/4 x 29 7/8
Born in Switzerland in 1886 and having spent his later teen years studying art in Munich, Conrad Buff came to the United States as a talented nineteen year old.

In his first year in America, he spent some time doing odd jobs, herding sheep in a
Sunlit Face Conrad Buff
Sunlit Face
Oil on paperboard 16 x 24

Mountain River Conrad Buff
Mountain River
Oil on paperboard
Swiss speaking region of Wisconsin, cooking in cafes and bartending. As his English improved, he quickly made his way west, and at at age twenty-one, he arrived in Los Angeles and met some artists who turned into life long friends. Among these were Maynard Dixon, eleven years his senior, and Edgar Payne, three years older.

By the age of forty, Conrad Buff had established himself as a notable artist of strikingly-constructed mountain and desert landscapes of the Southwest. Today his paintings hang in Sacramento's Crocker Museum, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, the Oakland Museum, the San Diego Art Museum and others.


Ferdinand Burgdorff Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach 1956
Oil on board 16 x 20
Ferdinand Burgdorff 1881 - 1975 Ferdinand Burgdorff On the old Wharf Monterey
On the old Wharf, Monterey, California 1948
Oil on board 18 x 24
Ferdinand Burgdorff lived to be 94 years old, and was upon his death, the oldest working member of the Carmel, California art community.

A Cleveland, Ohio native, Ferdinand studied in Paris with Rene Menard and Florence Este. In 1907, he headed to America's West, living in boxcars as a railroad laborer between Yuma, Arizona and Calexico, California. While in the Southwest, he would venture away from the rail line on horseback to paint the desert. He later wrote of these experiences saying, "There were such exciting things to see and paint, undisturbed by a single human within miles."

In 1911 when he was only thirty years old, he returned to Clevelandand sold enough of his works to pay for a round the world trip. His goal was to see Greece and Egypt, ancient desert worlds. Painting along the Nile reminded him of his time along the Colorado River.

Ferdinand Burgdorff Indians at Monument Valley
Indians at Monument Valley 1972
Oil on masonite 16 x 20
Ferdinand Burgdorff California Coast
California Coast, 1911
Oil on canvas 10 x 14

Back in America , he lived and painted in Sante Fe, New Mexico, painting the region known as "Sandia" west of Albuquerque. He then moved to California, and became an illustrator for a new publication, Sunset Magazine. Many of his paintings were published in Sunset.

He settled in Carmel, building a house near Pebble Beach on Rondo Road. He made many trips to the Grand Canyon and Hopi Reservations in Arizona. His landscapes were both realistic and romantic, conveying mystery and drama in the landscape.


Thelma Speed Houston Cathedral
Cathedral
Watercolor,
21 1/2 x 29 1/2 (sight)
Thelma Speed Houston Photo
Thelma
Speed Houston
Thelma Speed Houston
"She painted a watercolor a day for fifty years!"
1914 - 2000
Thelma Speed Houston Church Door
Church Door
Watercolor, 22 x 30
Thelma Gladys Speed Houston (also listed as Thelma Gladys Speed) was born in the Bronx, and first studied art at New York's Pratt Institute. She became a textile designer for A. Sulka and Company of New York and Paris, and later on a colorist for the St. Andrews Textile Company of New York.

By the 1940's she had relocated to San Diego, California, and produced expressionist watercolors often of the San Diego cityscape. She traveled and painted in other parts of California, spent time on Maui, and enjoyed painting and traveling the world. A true enthusiast, she also taught and was a member of the Laguna Beach Art Association, and is fondly remembered as having painted "a watercolor a day for fifty years."

In March of 2005, an exhibition of her work was held at the Brooks Gallery, Fairmont State University, WV.

Thelma Speed Houston Bed Blue Abstract
Red and Blue abstract
Watercolor,
31 1/2 x 24 1/2
Thelma Speed Houston Promenade
Promenade
Watercolor,
12 x 16
Thelma Speed Houston Red Blue and Yellow Abstract
Blue Red
and Yellow abstract

Watercolor
17 x 13
Thelma Speed Houston SF Fog
"S.F. Fog"
Watercolor
13 1/2 x 19 1/2 (sight)
Thelma Speed Houston Augies
Augie's
(famed Del Coronado Restaurant circa 1950's)
Watercolor, 12 x 16
Thelmas Speed Houston Big Sur
"Big Sur"
Watercolor
14 x 19 1/2 (sight)
Thema Speed Houston Aurora Borealis
"Aurora Borealis"
Watercolor 14 x 20 (sight)
Thelma Speed Houston Enchanted Forest
Enchanted Forest
Watercolor 18 1/8 x 30
Thelma Speed Houston Hillside Park Oil
Hillside Park
Oil on masonite, 10 x 18 1/2

Thelma Speed Houston Bell Tower San Luis Rey
Bell Tower, San Luis Rey
Watercolor, 8 1/4 x 10 1/8

In May of 2007, a retrospective was held in Vista, California, co-curated by Ken Jenkins, a stage and screen and television star recently known for his character, Dr.Kelso on the sitcom “Scrubs.”

Ken Jenkins describes when he and his wife first encourntered Thelma Speed Houston's watercolor painting. He said, "We didn't know much about her, but in the end, we feel as if we
Ken Jenkings with thelma Speed Houston Watercolor
didn't pick her out, rather she grabbed us up by the wrist and said, 'I've got a job for you two." Today, Jenkins is a Thelma Speed Houston collector with over 300 works.

Linda and I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Jenkins about Thelma's work. As an a person who has spent a 40 plus year acting career (mostly on Broadway), Ken was most impressed with Thelma's discipline of producing a painting a day for fifty years, her unfailing passion for her art, a passion which was evident in her paintings and in the loving remembrances of her many students.
Ken Jenkins as Scrubs Dr. Kelso
Above are photos of Ken Jenkins as Dr. Kelso on Scrubs
& as himself preparing for a Thelma Speed Houston Exhibition

Milford Zornes Photo
Milford Zornes
with sketch book
Milford Zornes 1908 - 2008 Milford Zornes Canyon de Chelly
Canyon de Chelly, 2001
Watercolor, 8 1/2 x 11

Milford Zornes North Ligurian Coast
North Ligurian Coast, Italy,
1987
, 9 x 13, watercolor
Milford Zornes was born in 1908. As a twenty-year-old in 1928, he went on a bit of a “walk about." He hitch-hiked across America from his native West, worked on the docks of New York, and after earning his ticket, shipped out for Europe.

After his return to America, he settled in Los Angeles, studying art with F. Tolles Chamberlin at the Otis Art Institute and Millard Sheets at the Scripps College. By 1933, he was receiving awards for his watercolors which he produced for the P.W.A.P. art project. He won a one-man show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

One of his watercolors was chosen by the Roosevelts to hang in the White House. Over the decade of the thirties, he was active in the California Water Color movement, and was president of the California Water Color Society.

He was drafted after the outbreak of WWII, and was assigned to be an official artist in the China, India, and Burma theaters of operation. Most of the works he produced in this period were turned over to the Pentagon, but he did have a one man show in Bombay.

After the war, he settled in Claremont, California, and spent much time painting,

Milford Zornes Mt San Antonio
Mt. San Antonio, 1989
Watercolor, 22 x 30
Milford Zornes Orchard Under Grey Skies
Orchard Under Grey Skies
Watercolor, 14 1/4 x 22 1/4
teaching, and traveling. He invented a traveling classroom, taking his watercolor students to exotic travel destinations for his painting workshops. In 1963, Zornes purchased the former home and studio of Maynard Dixon in Salt Lake City to use as a location for regular watercolor workshops. He purchased the home from Edith Hamlin, widow of the famed artist.

Milford Zornes’ paintings are known for their broad brush strokes, and his use of unpainted areas of white to help define forms. He attended his 100th birthday party, a celebration of his life long artistic career on January 26, 2008 at the Pasadena Musuem of Art. He died less than a month later on February 24, 2008.

He has taught art throughout much of Southern California, including the University of California at Santa Barbara. His works are displayed in many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Laguna Museum of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.


These Paintings, "on the More Modern Side" are also on exhibit

Jon Blanchette Mendocino House
Jon Blanchette 1908 - 1987
Mendocino House
Oil on canvas laid down on board, 20 x 24

Hal Reed Cliffdweller with Maize
Hal Reed 1921 -
Cliffdweller with Maize
Oil on board 20 x 16

Hal Reed Portrait with a Cigar
Hal Reed 1921 -
Portrait with Cigar
Oil on board 10 1/8 x 8 1/4

Lewis Suzuki The Mill
Lewis Suzuki 1920 -
The Mill 1960
Watercolor, 20 x 28


Harold Charles Landaker
1892 - 1966
"The Herdsman"
Oil on canvas, 24 x 36
Nell Walker Warner Pansies Still Life
Nell Walker Warner
1891 - 1970
Pansies Still life
Oil on board, 12 x 16
Wayne LaCom Park Lake
Wayne Lacom 1922 -
Park Lake
Watercolor, 20 x 30
Sandra Beebe Quiet Cove
Sandra Beebe (contemporary)
Quiet Cove, Pacific Grove, CA
Watercolor 17 3/4 x 24

Robert Landry Falling Leaves
Robert Landry
1921 - 1991
Falling Leaves
Watercolor 8 1/2 x 11 1/2

Robert Landry Lost Kite
Robert Landry
1921 - 1991
Lost Kite
Mixed Media 12 x 24

Earnest Krape Mountain Spring
Ernest Krape 1880 - 1974
"Mountain Spring " 1960
Oil on canvas, 20 x 32 1/2
Robert Landry Shack and Windmill
Robert Landry
1921 - 1991
Shack and Windmill
Watercolor 10 1/4 x 14
Joshua Meador Last Symphony
Joshua Meador
1911-1965
The Last Symphony # 475
the Meador family collection
Oil on Linen, 24 x 34
Joshua Meador Warming in the Sun
Joshua Meador
1911-1965
"Warming in the Sun " #1154
courtesy of the Meador family
Oil on Linen, 20 x 27
Joshua Meador Caspar Inlet
Joshua Meador
1911-1965
Caspar Inlet #1844
Oil on linen,
16 x 12

Joshua Meador Shoreline
Joshua Meador
1911-1965
Shoreline #1843
Oil on linen,
16 x 12

Phil Dike After Sailing
Phil Dike 1906 - 1990After Sailing
(Balboa Harbor) Oil on board, 8 1/4 x 8 3/4
Ray Wilson Man with an Umbrella
Ray Wilson 1906 - 1972
Man with an Umbrella
Watercolor 14 1/2 x 21 1/2

Phil Dike Urban Shore
Phil Dike 1906 - 1990
Urban Shore
(New York Harbor)
Watercolor, 12 1/4 x 18 3/4

Emilio Lanzi Fortress Butte
Emilio Lanzi 1884-1965
Fortress Butte
Oil on canvas
21 3/4 x 36

Elber Stanhope Maynard House Gold Hill Nevada
Elmer Stanhope
1907 - 1956
Maynard House, Gold Hill, NV
Watercolor, 15 1/2 x 19 1/2

Robert Rishell Mountain Trail
Robert Clifford Rishell 1917 -1976
"Mountain Trail"
Oil on canvas,
11x14

Charles Surrendorf Colors of Autumn
Charles Frederick Surendorf
1906 - 1979
Colors of Autumn 1973
Watercolor, 18 x 24
Charles Surendorf Landscape with Boulders
Charles Frederick Surendorf
1906 - 1979 "Landscape with Boulders" 1951
Watercolor, 14 3/4 x 21 3/4
Kirk Pedersen Cherokee Trail
Kirk Pedersen 1959 -
Cherokee Trail, 1985
Watercolor, 17 1/2 x 25 1/2

Robert Grey Hollister Peak
Robert Gray 1929-
Hollister Peak
9 7/8 x 22 1/2, Watercolor

Karl Schmidt Rocky Coastal Scene
Karl Schmidt 1890 - 1962
Rocky Coastal Scene
Gouache, 9 x 12

Karl Schmidt Sailboats on a Beach
Karl Schmidt 1890 - 1962
Sailboats on a Beach
Gouache, 9 x 12
Elmer Stanhope Barnward Trek
Elmer Stanhope
1907 - 1956
Barnward Trek
Watercolor 21 1/2 x 29

Alfred Owels Farmstead
Alfred Owles 1894 - 1978
Farmstead
Watercolor, 12 x 16

Rene Weaver Toulumne River
Rene Weaver 1897 - 1984
Tuolumne River 1944
Watercolor, 9 3/4 x 13 3/4