In the Mission style
One of museum curators’ favorite approaches in mounting exhibits is to look at the same scene as presented by two different artists, especially during two different periods. The Musée d’Orsay in Paris often presents exhibits by the Impressionists in this way. Now the Depot Park Museum in Sonoma has created this type of exhibit in a new show entitled “Art and Architecture of the California Missions.”
The exhibition runs through September 12.
Nine large oil paintings of selected California missions by the late 19th-century painter Mattie Fountain are displayed side-by-side with drypoint etchings made by printmaker Gertrude Stone Brooks between 1937 and 1942. Each artist has depicted the mission as it appeared to them at their time and from their personal perspective, allowing the viewer to see the buildings in completely different ways.
These representations are further complimented by the loan from Cline Family Cellars of four of its collection of mission models (at top), adding the fourth dimension to the artistic viewing.
Through the use of photographic exhibit panels, the museum also presents the concept of mission style architecture. This popular form began in California and the Southwest, inspired by missions established a century earlier. Architects designed both residential and public buildings in this style, which reflected the regional character of both California and the arid West.
Surviving structures demonstrate how missions have influenced American culture, and continue to do so. Missions also provided inspiration for generations of artists, well represented in the exhibition.
On display for the first time are three Retablos (religious tintypes; above). Their origin is unknown, but their provenance from the mission period has been authenticated.
Art and Architecture of the California Missions. Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4pm. Depot Park Museum, 205 First St. W. Sonoma.
– Jim Brewer, Sonoma Valley Historical Society
