Surprise in our email,
previously unpublished photos of
CA Artist Andreas Roth 1872 - 1949

John W. Hilton (1904-1983) was doing well in the 1950's. His work was being recognized by people who counted. He was honored with a one-man show at New York's Grand Central Gallery and was inducted into the Salmagundi Club in New York. He was writing articles and having his work published regularly in Desert Magazine and Arizona Highways Magazine. And his paintings were popular and selling.

As a younger man, Hilton had become an experienced student of the Mojave Desert. He was a self taught gemologist, geologist, botanist, zoologist, as well as a skilled painter, writer, and performing musician. His desert gem shop and art gallery was the scene of some of his art lessons with some of his closest desert friends, desert painters Maynard Dixon, Nicolai Fechin, Jimmy Swinnerton, and Clyde Forsythe.

As World War II began, Hilton's first hand knowledge lead to a

reconnoitering jeep expedition with General George Patton. The general was preparing to train troops for his Africa campaign and borrowed Hilton's Mojave expertise. Another wartime experience of note was when Hilton hosted his friend Howard Hughes who flew his plane from Los Angeles and landed on the highway out front of Hilton's humble gallery and gem shop, bringing fresh Maine lobster for John's daughter, future artist Kathi Hilton, who was enjoying her fourth birthday party.

During the war, Hilton was operating his own calcite mine. The calcite was of an optical grade and was used by MIT and Edwin Land (of Polaroid Land Camera fame) to make gunsights for anti aircraft weapons aboard American bombers. The sights made it much easier to target enemy fighters which were attacking American bombers. They saved many American lives, and although John W. Hilton could have become a wealthy man from the enterprise, he refused to make money on the venture as he felt it was doing his part for the war effort.

After the war, Hilton met the returning victorious General Dwight Eisenhower while showing his paintings at an outdoor art show in Palm Springs. Ike was an aspiring amateur painter, and struck up an immediate friendship with Hilton. After Ike was elected in 1952, as President he would vacation in Palm Springs where he would play golf. During these visits, the President would go missing for hours on end. Only senior aides knewthat the President was at Hilton's house painting. In 1957, Hilton presented his painting Twentynine Palms Oasis at the White House which Eisenhower displayed in his Oval Office.

Below are four of Hilton's paintings currently on exhibit at our gallery.

Joshua Meador (1911-1965) was at the apex of his career in the 1950's.

As a young man during the 1920's, he was a high school honor student and track star in his native Columbus, Mississippi. His father's influence garnered young Josh an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, but the brave young artist had the courage to tell his father he did not want a military career, but wanted to be an artist. To his father's credit, Josh enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, and graduated cum laude into the midst of the Great Depression in 1935.

After a brief stint painting Post Offices for the WPA, Meador submitted his portfolio to Walt Disney.. As a younger man, Walt Disney had wanted to attend the Art Institute. Now enjoying some success in Hollywood, he was in a position to hire some of the best artists he could find, and among them, he hired Josh.

Josh loved his job at Disney. He enjoyed the collaborative environment working with the many artists assembled by Walt. Josh became director of of animation effects, and among contributions made by him were methods and techniques which gave fairy dust to Tinkerbell and the "Z" in Zorro. He worked on all the Disney classics produced by the studio for twenty years, including directing a portion of the groundbreaking animated feature Fantasia.

During much of 1955, Josh was working on loan from Disney with MGM Studios, doing special animation effects for the groundbreaking Science Fiction film, Forbidden Planet, a forerunner of Star Trek and Star Wars. In the 1960's, President Lyndon Johnson included a Meador painting in his collection, and Josh was chosen to be the "on board" artist to paint a portrait of the returning Apollo astronauts from the first moon mission. Unfortunately, Josh died of a heart attack in August 1965, and did not live to see the moon mission in 1969.

Above are four of Joshua Meador's paintings currently on exhibit at our gallery.

Artist Robert Rishell, here
photographed wearing one of his
familiar turquoise bolo ties.

Robert Rishell (1917-1976) was at the center of the Bay Area's art scene of the 1950's.

In 1949, Robert Rishell was an energetic member of the Society of Western Artists (SWA), and he organized the first showing of the Society of Western Artists at the California Spring Garden Show in 1949. His father was the Mayor of Oakland, Clifford E. Rishell, who was Mayor during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Young Robert did not follow his father into politics, deciding to dedicate his life to painting. He trained at the California College of Arts and Crafts and studied with Xavier Martinez, who had in turn trained with the great American Impressionist, John Singer Sargent.

Robert was a strong proponent for California Art. He was a driving force in the establishment of the Oakland

We are excited to recover and publish these photos which help tell the tale of the spirited and adventurous Andreas Roth. In 1932, he thought enough of California and America to leave his home and emigrate. Upon his arrival, he energetically pursued his artistic passions, exploring the best of California and beyond.

He lived in California for sixteen years between his 1932 arrival and his passing in 1949. He possessed a distinctive painting style and is a favorite of collectors all over the American and Canadian West. Yet until quite recently, there was little published about Andreas Roth other than the recognition given to his paintings in California.

Recently, we've heard from his great grandson, Andreas Leipold of Germany. Found among old letters from Andreas Roth to his son back in Germany were photos of Andreas painting in some of his favorite locales. They show an immigrant artist going to great lengths to seek out the most prized painting locales in the West, a dedicated painter, decked out not in a smock or comfortable traveling clothes, but instead a stylish old gent attired always in jacket, hat and tie.

His great grandson believes that Andreas Roth came to America in 1932. Contrary to many of the biographies now on the internet, some suggesting Roth was Jewish, and even information from a descendant of his friend identifying a synagogue in the Los Angeles area, the family states that he did not leave Germany because of the rise of Hitler, clarifying that Andreas Roth was a Roman Catholic.

Andreas' move was quite an achievement. The economic realities in his native Germany and in America weren't the best. The world was suffering a depression, and Germany was still suffering under the weight of debt and inflation resulting from World War I. Yet at age 60, Andreas had the means, health, and wherewithal to make this monumental transoceanic and transcontinental move.

He settled in Los Angeles and began his work as a painter. He did "house portraits" for wealthy clients, and made sufficient income from these to finance his travels throughout California. He often painted in Laguna Beach, Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro Harbor, Palm Springs, Yosemite, the eastern Sierra and Carmel. When you think of it, he must have been able to afford an automobile, lodgings, meals, and art supplies as he went, all marks of either a wealthy man or a successful selling artist.

After being in California for a decade, in the 1940's Andreas began taking summer trips to Alberta, painting the beauty and majesty of the Canadian Rockies in Banff and Jasper National Parks. Perhaps part of his attraction can be explained that the Canadian Rockies reminded Andreas of the Austrian Alps and of home. Our gallery has heard from Canadian collectors of Andreas Roth paintings, especially his depictions of Lake Louise. His Canadian work must have been some of the most successful of his career, as he kept returning there season after season.

When Andreas left Germany, he left his family behind including a grown son. The family suspects that all was not well between Andreas and his wife, as she did not follow him to America. She continued living in Andreas Roth's hometown, Klein Ochsenfurt in northern Bavaria.

The family does not know Andreas' wife's name, but the family knows she was Italian, an artist, and she is referred to in the letters as "Rote Malerin" which translates as "red painter." The family guesses this was an affectation Andreas used for her, possible referring to her hair color or political leanings. The family reports Andreas wrote in his letters that he was not pleased that his wife did not choose to follow him to the U.S. as she would have had a good life in America.

Overall, Andreas sent some thirty letters to his son. They now reside with the grandson, and we are in contact with the great-grandson who is gleaning information. We may learn more as time goes on and we will continue updating our Andreas Roth web page. Our readers may add.

In 2004, the film "Modigliani" staring Andy Garcia took it on the chin. The critics almost universally panned it, with Stephen Holden writing in the NY Times that the film serves as "a textbook outline of how not to film the life of a legendary artist." So why speak of a film which received such a poor reception? The answer is simple: the basis for the film was the relationship between two dynamic forces in the world of modern art, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso. Plus, it was a story worth telling.

Theirs was a friendship between two artists, very alike yet very

different. Both were extremely talented and had a vision energized by a huge appetite and passion for life. As artists they were competitors. Adding to the compelling nature of their story was the contrast of Picasso's success with Modigliani's lack of it. Picasso would go on to live a long, full and extremely successful life while Modigliani, fated with a childhood illness complicated by drug use, died at age 36, never enjoying acceptance, fame, or wealth.

At the time modern art was ascendant in the world of painting, just as the birth of Jazz was rising in music. Both art forms borrowed the best of European traditions informed and transformed by colorful rhythms and energies from Africa. As France engaged in colonial pursuits in Africa, artifacts were brought back and exhibited Paris. African art exhibitions were popular among the curious Parisians, especially African ceremonial masks which had a major influence on Matisse, Picasso and Modigliani.

What is most striking about Modigliani's portraits is that he didn't so much paint the faces of his subjects, but the masks of their faces, the visage meant to be seen by the world, purposefully concealing the inner person behind the mask.

Modigliani would elongate the necks of most of his subjects, distancing their "mask" from their bodies, drawing more attention to their faces. Often, he left the eyes blank hiding their eyes, their window to the soul. Contrary to what you might expect, Modigliani's subjects were not hidden by their masks. His portraits often reveal much more of his subject than a traditional portrait. Below is a fascinating video slide show of some of his portraits.

Today, Modigliani's work isn't nearly as well known as his friend Picasso's. Until I saw the film Modigliani, I had not ever stopped long enough to give much thought to his work. But because of this film - this poorly reviewed film - I have looked at Modigliani's work more closely, and I have become a fan.

Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Amedeo Modigliani

Stephen Holden of the NY Times may be right about the film, but I would like to add this thought. Although it may not be historically accurate and is overburdened with cinematic flaws and miscues, it is probably the best film ever made to explore the relationship between Picasso and Modigliani. In time, a better and more accurate film can be made.

But what is certain is that the story of these two painters and their relationship is worthy of consideration. Until a better film is made, this one raises some interesting questions and contrasts. One might be the need for community among artists -- friendship and competition -- to both stimulate and stress the growth of art. Another might be the influence of success on art. Are artists better when left unknown, unappreciated, and left in poverty? Does art improve with wealth, fame, and heaped high with praise?

First Family Visits Corcoran Gallery's
30 Artists Exhibition

Presidents have long been patrons of the arts, and over the years, many artists have been counted among our presidents' friends. As our presidents expressed interest in artists, they have set an example for the nation.

Some of our Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery artists have been among those receiving White House attention. Steven Seymour Thomas painted Woodrow Wilson's official Presidential Portrait presently in the permanent collection of the White House. Harry Cassie Best visited Washington and presented Teddy Roosevelt with a painting of Mount Shasta for the East Room of the White House. Similarly, John W. Hilton who was a painting partner of Dwight Eisenhower presented Ike with a painting for the Oval Office. Joshua Meador

had a painting in Lyndon Johnson's personal collection and was named by Johnson to be the artist selected to paint the returning Apollo astronauts from the first moon mission. Robert Rishell painted Ronald Reagan's official gubernatorial portrait currently hanging in the State Capitol in Sacramento, and his work resides in Ronald Reagan's personal art collection.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art was founded to encouraging American Genius. Its wide collection of 18th, 19th, and 20th century American art includes most of America's most notable artists.

The Corcoran possesses a fine collection of European art as well. While continuing its efforts to represent historic American works, the gallery also encourages modern European and American artists by showing and purchasing their work, paying particular attention to artists in the Washington area.

The current exhibit seen by the Obama family is entitled 30 Americans. It provides a sampling of wide-ranging work by some of the most important African American artists of the last thirty years. Selected from the Rubell Family Collection, the exhibition includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Hammons accompanied by works by younger emerging talent. The exhibition explores how each artist expresses black identity in America, given the backdrop of the struggle for civil rights, pop culture, and the ever evolving image of African Americans in the media.

30 Americans includes 76 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs. It was first displayed at the Rubell Family Foundation in Miami, Florida.

A key goal of the exhibition is to identify the linking legacy of African American art, highlighting relationships between artists across the generations. What the exhibition strives to do is to show how an artist's idea ripples through time and through the work of artists who follow. Such a linkage is enlightening to explore. In fact, linking the ideas and works of artists has long been a source of insight of how older ideas and forms are incorporated and expanded in new works. Be it finding elements of J.S. Bach in jazz or bits of Goya in Picasso, such has long been the case.

As a gallery, we strive to stimulate and nurture appreciation of art and to encourage our patrons and gallery visitors to frequent California Museums and take in their special exhibitions. The First Family's visit to the Corcoran is worthy of note, and although perhaps trivial when contrasted to weightier matters, it does provide a welcome change from the stream of normal political news and comment from Washington. So, we encourage all to follow the President's lead, and take in a museum exhibit soon.