As Toulouse-Lautrec said, "You must understand that the accessories are an intregal part of the picture."

Below are photos of some of the paintings and posters on exhibit along with information gleaned from their accompanying exhibition placards.

The Conversation shows two women in fashionable dresses with "leg of mutton" sleeves and bell shaped skirts. Their broad brimmed hats decorated with flowers and feathers were popular n the 1890's. This was the last of a series of pastels Degas did of women in conversation. Madame Dietz-Monnin was an accomplished amateur pianist ready to attend a costume ball, wearking a pink bonnet adorned with ribbon and a white feather. Degas painted her features carefully, but left her accessories more sketchlike. The bonnet probably belonged to Degas. He kept a collection of headware in his studio to use as props. Mary Cassatt was one of Degas' best friends, and she occasionally modeled for him. She felt this image showed her in a masculine posture which she felt was "repugnant." Cassatt's bonnet with ribbons and feathers seems elegant and feminine, a counterbalance to the painting's overall disavowal of femininity.

Portrait of Henri Rouart was of Degas' friend who was his commander during the Franco-Prussian War. Rouart was an avid art collector and had works by Jean Baptiste-Camile Corot, Gustave Courbet, Eugene Delacroix and Jean-Francois Millet as well as impressionist Mary Cassatt, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and Degas. The bowler atop Rouart's head was everyday wear, common among Bohemians and intellectuals. A Portrait of Zacharian was of Zacharie Zacharian another of Degas' friends. He was a Turkish-Armenian still life painter, who painted while wearing a bowler hat. Woman Viewed from Behind shows a unidentified woman in a moment of quiet contemplation as she gazes at art in the Grande Galerie of the Musee du Louvre. The image may be Mary Cassatt as it recalls similar images Degas produced of her.

The Milliners (1898) shows Degas' respect for the milliners as artists in their own right. This work is notable for its intense colors. Both the milliner and her assistant are busy with adorning hats. Degas has hidden the milliner's face in order to emphasize her concentration. The Milliners (1882-1905) shows a somber side of the millinery industry. Here, two pallid women labor in colorless exhaustion in contrast with the brightly colored ribbons of the hats they produce. Demand in the late 19th century was high, and milliners often worked 12 and 15 hour days during the peak season. This unglamorous scene contrasts greatly with the gaiety of the sophisticated showrooms it supplies. The Millinery Shop is Degas' largest painting of a millinery theme. The client is sampling an array of Spring and Summer hats in vogue during the early 1880's.

At the Milliners shows a client trying on a silk taffeta cream hat in front of a large mirror. Her face is an abstract white oval. Why? He doesn't explain. To the right, the sylized hand of a saleswoman offering the client another hat to try. Woman Adjusting Her Hair shows a woman trying on a hat. The perspective is interesting as are the triangles formed by her raised arms. The rich red of the carpet complements the green tone of the reflected image in the mirror.

At the Theater: Woman Seated in the Balcony shows a woman demurely dressed with a high necked dress leaning over the balcony eyeing the stage or audience below. Woman with a Dog seems to be all about the stylish hat. The angle, slightly above and behind, obscures the woman's face and the dog. Straw hats such as these were worn in Spring and Summer months.

Mary Cassatt's Portrait of Madame J shows an elegant woman wearing a black ensemble with a plummed hat complemented with bird wings and a veil. The subject may be Cassatt's sister-in-law, Eugenia, known as "Jeanie." The dark clothing contrasts with the floral patterned armchair. On the wall is a fan painted by Edgar Degas which Cassatt owned and displayed out of admiration. Georges Jeanniot's At the Milliners shows the detailed eloquence of the millinery shop, a contast to such scenes by Degas. The client carefully considers the wares in front of her. Jeanniot was a close friend of the elder Degas, and influenced by his millinery themed pastels. In Paul-Cesar Helleu's The Final Touch, a woman examines herself with an hand held mirror before placing the final touch, her hat. The bowler sitting next to her hat gives a hint this is not done in a millinery shop, but the woman's home.

Eduard Manet's At the Milliners shows a woman client trying on hats in front of floral wallpaper. She tries on a straw hat with feathered trim and red silk ribbons. Her bare shoulders suggest she's shopping at home rather than a millinery shop. Manet was known to frequent a shop owned by Madame Virot.

Manet's Berthe Morisot is shown here in dark winter dress. She was a close friend and sister-in-law of Manet, married to his younger brother, Eugene. This is one of eleven portraits Manet did of Morisot. His rapid brushwork evokes the soft texture of the fur. In Manet's Madame Guillemet, he pays close attention to the hat's ribbon, its sheen and the large buckle above the forehead. Madame Guillemet was a close friend of Manet and a frequent model.

Berthe Morisot's Young Girl on the Grass, Mademoiselle Isabell Lambert is of one of Morisot's favorite models. Her face with a pensive expression is framed by the underside of a large brimmed straw hat as she sits in a garden.

Her Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight is of her husband, Eugene, Eduard Manet's younger brother. The hat he's wearing is called a "canotier" or straw boater, popular and worn often during summer months. The Isle of Wight is off the southern coast of England. Eugene peers outward as a woman and young girl pass near the quay.

Alfred Stevens Portrait of Mademoiselle Dubois shows Steven's student and model Anne Dubois wearing a tall hat trimmed with ostrich plumes. She's standing against a gray sky, while standing on a balcany. Stevens enjoyed much commercial success and was a close friend of Edgar Degas. In James Tissot's The Shop Girl, the shop girl holds the door open for the observer onto the busy Parisian street outside, as if to say, "Thanks for dropping in." Perhaps she's hoping to lure in the widowgazers from the outside.

A real surprise in this exhibition is the large number of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Although he is known for being a leading impressionist and known for his associations with Claude Monet, Frederic Bazille and Alfred Sisley, he was also inspired to create paintings of women in hats. As the son of a tailor and a dressmaker, a love of fashion had been nurtured in him early on. He considered hats to be pieces of art in and of themselves and designed some hats himself.

With quick brushstrokes, in At the Milliner's, Renoir captures three women inside a millinery shop. The woman to the left wears a purple hat while the hatless woman in the center with a bright red neckersheif appears to be in in a moment of indecision while trying on hats in front of a mirror. The Girl Seated with a White Hat is decked out in summer fashion, a broad brimmed straw hat. This pastel is exceptional for Renoir's ability to render soft textures. La Place Clichy takes place in Montmartre near the studios of Renoir and Deegas. It reveals a woman busy about town in a bonnet trimmed with ostrich plumes and black ribbons. The black jacketed gentlemen with black top hats in the background contrast well with the pale yellow feathers and the woman's dark blue jacket.

Pinning the Hat features two cousins, one being Bethe Morisot's and Eugene Manet's daughter, Julie Manet. The older cousin, Paulette plays being the millener, trimming the hat for her client played by Julie. Paulette pins flowers to the hat while Julie holds a handful of blossoms. This lithograph was made into a well selling print. The Milliner features a very young woman, probably still in her teens, as she busily goes about her work as a "trottin," an apprentice busily working at the lowest rung of a millinery shop. The window behind is arrayed with red hats with blue trim. Young Girl with a Hat shows a lavishly decorated straw hat with wide dark pink ribbons. Renoir's attention to the ribbon trim underscores his interest in the artistic value to be found in women's hats.

Young Girls Looking at an Album again shows Julie and Paulette, pictured in Pinning the Hat, this time posed looking at an album. This painting was to become a print. Renoir's art dealer suggested the image would be more commercially viable if the girls were bare headed. But Renoir, quick to defend his artistic imagination and freedom, would not relent.

With hats being so stylish in the late 19th and early 20th century, it isn't surprising that models used in commercial advertising were often pictured in hats.

Sadly, Professor Lapp passed away on May 31, 2014, just a bit before what would have been his 89th Birthday.

Now Corrick's, itself another "local treasure", great resource, and civic and cultural participant in the City and for Sonoma County, has put on display a very comprehensive group of Professor Lapp's self-described "eclectic" paintings.  Nothing can match seeing them in person as a group, although we can give you a taste in this Newsletter.

..  You will find them displayed on the way to and wrapping around the walls into the "My Daughter The Framer" space, and also around the upper art display panels in the Southeast corner at the front of the store.

In keeping with Professor Lapp's own preference for making it possible for people to own worthwhile original art, the prices remain quite reasonable.  Professor Lapp's framing may for the most part be modest and reflective of past decades, and some canvases are unframed.  But these gems are precious even when they are not slick and shiny in their presentation. They are a touching evocation of the man and his artistic journey.

The video (above), is titled "Art is Long, Life is Short." It was made in 2014 right after he died, and features a brief introduction by Professor Lapp speaking about the varied styles and subjects that he pursued, followed by another six minutes of biographical photographs and some of his artwork.

Maurice Lapp, painter and educator, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 17, 1925. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago where he earned both a BFA and MFA. Maury studied painting abroad in 1950 on a Ryerson Foreign Travel Fellowship and in 1956 received a Fulbright Grant.

After settling in Northern California in 1952, Lapp began teaching painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. In 1956 he moved north to Santa Rosa, California, where he joined the art faculty at the Santa Rosa Junior College, where he taught until his retirement in 1991. Lapp was a popular instructor and continued to teach part-time until the age of 87. He had a strong work ethic and painted daily.

Lapp had numerous solo exhibitions in his long career, including at the Oakland Museum, Santa Rosa Junior College, Memorial Union Gallery at UC Davis, the Stevenson College Gallery at UC Santa Cruz, the Walnut Creek Art Center, the School of Education at Stanford University, San Francisco's Legion of Honor and the American Cultural Institute in Mexico.

His work was featured in group exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum in New York, the Denver Art Museum, SFMOMA, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Oakland Museum, San Francisco's Legion of Honor, and Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan.

In addition to Corrick's, his work is represented in the collections of San Francisco's Legion of Honor, the Oakland Museum, the cities of San Francisco and Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa Junior College and numerous private collections.

Linda Sorensen's paintings currently showing:

Bodega Landmark Gallery Collection,
located inland in the town of Bodega, west end of town a half block from the Casino, and just across from the General Store and the Bodega Volunteer Fire Department.

Corrick's "Art Trails Gallery,"
located in downtown Santa Rosa on 4th Street, just steps from Santa Rosa's newly reopened town Square.

Gourmet Au Bay down on the waterfront. Eastshore to the bottom of the hill, then straight across the intersection, and slightly left over the little bridge.

Linda Sorensen now rents an artist's cabin/studio, located near Monte Rio, overlooking Dutch Bill Creek among redwoods -- near the Russian River. She reports plenty of company from the mallards and mergansers on the Creek.

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery is taking a break from conducting a "brick and mortar" storefront gallery, but continues as an online gallery. You may make arrangements to view specific artworks by emailing or calling us. Contact us by by phone 707-875-2911 or email us at Art@BodegaBayHeritageGallery.com. We continue to host our website and Linda's site, LindaSorensenPaintings.com, and publish our online newsletter every month.

Pacific Bay Gallery is Bodega Bay's newest gallery featuring the works of Noki Jones. It is located next to The Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay. You may remember it as our most recent storefront location ... easily identifiable by Bodega Bay's newest and tallest palm tree.

Bentonville, AR
Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art