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Water, Land and Sky: Rediscovering Albert Thomas DeRome
February 12 - May 14, 2005
(above: Albert Thomas DeRome (1885-1959), Mouth of Carmel River, Artichoke Fields, 1955, oil on board. Collection of Jack Gilbert )
The exhibit Water,
Land and Sky: Rediscovering Albert Thomas DeRome opens at The Irvine Museum
February 12, 2005 and continues 
through
May 14, 2005 (right: Albert Thomas DeRome (1885-1959), California
Fantasy, circa 1939-1959, oil on board. Courtesy of K. Nathan Gallery)
California-native Albert Thomas DeRome (1885-1959) was born in San Luis Obispo County. He studied at the Mark Hopkins School of Art and tried his hand at political cartooning before deciding to become a landscape painter. After a long recovery from a serious car accident in 1931, DeRome shifted from watercolor to oil, and spent the rest of his life documenting the mountains, rolling hills and valleys, waterways and especially, the beautiful, changing coastline of northern California. He often painted with fellow artists such as William Keith, Will Sparks, and Percy Gray. His works can be found in many California museums but most of it remains with the family to this day.
A color catalogue, with an essay and biographical notes by Deborah Gilbert, Ph.D., the artist's grand-niece, accompanies the exhibition.
Resource Library editor's note:
Water, Land and Sky was earlier presented at Hearst Art Gallery in Moraga, CA from June 19 through August 8, 2004.
Edan Hughes, an art historian and expert in early California
art, maintains a web site with brief biographies on numerous early California
artists. Concerning Albert Thomas DeRome he adds that after his auto accident
"an insurance policy prevented him from selling his work or exhibiting
as a professional artist. He did exhibit as an "amateur" in northern
California, gaining recognition and several first prizes. He often would
give his paintings to friends and relatives in exchange for favors."
Hughes adds that DeRome was a member of the Carmel Art 
Association and the California College of Arts and Crafts,
where he servad as a trustee; and that he exhibited at "California
State Fairs; Monterey County Fairs; Santa Cruz Art League; Oakland Art Gallery,
1944; University of California at Santa Cruz, 1985; Gump's (San Francisco),
1986-87 (solo); Carmel Art Ass'n, 1987." AskArt.com quotes the art
dealer Thomas Nygard saying that "His close friends and sketching partners
included painters William Keith, Carlos Hittell (fellow Swedenborgians),
Will Sparks, Frank Moore, Percy Gray and Gunnar Widforss. From 1915-31 he
made many painting expeditions to Nevada, Arizona and throughout California."
(right: Albert Thomas DeRome (1885-1959), Pines at Sunset, Evening
Pines, Asilomar, 1954, oil on board. The Plant Collection)
RL readers may also enjoy these articles and essays:
For California art history overall see Top California Artists; In and Out of California: Travels of American Impressionists, an essay by Deborah Epstein Solon; In and Out of California: The Participatory Nature of Early California Art, an essay by Will South; California Watercolor Painters in Context, an essay by Donelson Hoopes; Regionalism: The California View, an essay by Susan M. Anderson and The Metamorphosis of California Landscape Art, an essay by Rexford E. Brandt.
For Nothern California see The 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition of San Francisco; An Art-Lover's Guide to the Exposition, by Sheldon Cheney (reprint of an entire book covering the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915); The Art of the Exposition, by Eugen Neuhaus (reprint of an entire book covering the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915); The Sculpture And Mural Decorations Of The Exposition, by Stella George Stern Perry (reprint of an entire book covering the San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915); Harvey L. Jones' essay Twilight and Reverie: California Tonalist Painting 1890-1930; The Northern Scene and Towards Impressionism in Northern California, essays by Raymond L. Wilson; The Society of Six, an essay by Terry St. John; The San Francisco Art Association, The Santa Cruz Art League and The Carmel Art Association, essays by Betty Hoag McGlynn.
For Southern California read What Made Laguna Beach Special, an essay by Deborah Epstein Solon; the California Art Club; The Land of Sunshine, an essay by William H. Gerdts; Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and the Eucalyptus School in Southern California, by Nancy Dustin Wall Moure; The Development of Southern California Impressionism, Masters of Light, Impressionist Style in Perspective and Landscape Painting in California, essays by Jean Stern; The California Water Color Society: Genesis of an American Style and The Arts in Santa Barbara essays by Janet Blake Dominik; Ranchos: The Oak Group Paints the Santa Barbara Countryside, an essay by Ellen Easton; Continuity and Change: Southern California's Evolving Landscape, an essay by Sarah Vure; Dream and Perspective: American Scene Painting in Southern California, an essay by Susan M. Anderson; San Diego Beginnings, an essay by Martin E. Petersen; The Development of an Art Community in the Los Angeles Area, an essay by Ruth Westphal, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland, an essay by Julie Joyce.
For biographical information on artists referenced in this article please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists
Rev. 8/27/09
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