One hundred years ago a small group of Southern California artists formed the California Water Color Society and held their first exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. (The spelling at the time was “Water Color”. – two words – Which was common usage in the 1920s.) The founding members were all established, professional artists. Artists in the exhibition include Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel, Phil Dike, Millard Sheets, Phil Paradise, Emil Kosa Jr., Edward Reep, Ralph Hulett, Wayne La Com, Milford Zornes, and Rex Brandt among others. Their stated goal in forming the CWCS was to elevate the watercolor medium “to the dignity it enjoyed under such great cultures as those of China and Persia”.

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During the first 50 years this organization was in operation, it was known as the California Water Color Society. After 1971 when larger numbers of artists from other parts of America joined the CWCS, the board and members chose to change the society’s name to the National Watercolor Society. That name is used to this day to identify society.

This exhibition has been mounted to present select watercolors by outstanding artists who were members between 1921 and 1971 when the organization was known as the California Water Color Society. Many of the artists were either on the Board of Directors or served as jurors for society exhibitions during that fifty-year period of time.

The goal of this exhibition is to visually confirm the CWCS artists from that fifty-year period of time indeed succeeded in establishing Southern California as a center for the advancement of the watercolor medium; just as the founding members had hoped for when they formed the organization in 1921. This exhibition was curated by Gordon T. McClelland for the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, the originating exhibition site.

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CALIFORNIA HERITAGE MUSEUM

The building that houses the California Heritage Museum is the Roy Jones House and is as interesting and unique as the exhibits themselves.

In the late 19th Century, renowned architect Sumner P. Hunt built the home for Roy Jones, son of the founder of Santa Monica Senator, John Percival Jones. City Trustees granted Jones a permit to dig a cesspool on April 16, 1894, marking the first step taken in the construction of the house. One of Sumner P. Hunt’s earliest surviving buildings, the Roy Jones home is designed in a style that transitions between the elaborate Victorian Queen Anne Revival to the more simple American Colonial or Georgian Revival.

The beauty and grace of the first buildings were documented in the 1894 May publication of ‘Outlook’: “Five new residences, ranging in cost from $3,000 to $5,000, are now in the course of construction in Santa Monica. Those of Messrs. Roy Jones and Kennelly, on Ocean Avenue, is about completed. They are all handsome structures, and show that there is to be no deterioration in architectural styles in our growing city by the sea.” The June 30, 1894 edition further reinforced this appreciation: “Sumner P. Hunt, architect, of Los Angeles, had made his ‘imprint’ upon this town in a pleasant way that is not excelled by anyone who has ever ‘struck’ it. He designed the residence of Mr. Roy Jones. They are all neat, slightly edifices, and are a gratifying step in advancing the style of our architecture.” 

The permanent exhibition at the museum includes photographs of the extraordinary move to Main Street, the Jones family, and an Ostrich Farm that made up a great deal of Ocean Park in 1893.

The California Heritage Museum is committed to promoting the diversity and rich history of California’s heritage through exhibitions, lectures, publications, and community events.