BAKERSFIELD,CA- Through careful selection. "They were collected over a period of about six to seven years from different collections in and around the Bay Area and throughout California," said Katie Kirschenmann, vice president of the Kern County Library Foundation.
The Art Acquisition Committee's goal was to collect paintings historically significant to California and Kern County to display at the Beale Memorial Library.
"The collection as a whole was brought together to show a breath of California art and the different movements in California," said Kirschenmann.
The collection is home to paintings from a group of artists known as the Society of Six.
A group of six California artists including August Gay and Maurice Logan.
Most of their paintings were destroyed in the Oakland fire of 1991.
"You can see that each piece is stylistically different from one another yet they have a cohesion in the fact that they used what's called retinal painting. Painting meaning from the eye, not used from the line. So their paintings were really more about color and blocking of color rather than line or linear drawing of the subject," said Kirschenmann.
Each piece has a bar code you can scan with your smartphone to learn more about it.
"The real wealth in these paintings is the intellectual or historical value that they have. It's priceless. And to have that right here in Kern County, right in downtown Bakersfield is really amazing and quite the gem," said Kirschenmann.
The Art Acquisition Committee's goal was to collect paintings historically significant to California and Kern County to display at the Beale Memorial Library.
"The collection as a whole was brought together to show a breath of California art and the different movements in California," said Kirschenmann.
The collection is home to paintings from a group of artists known as the Society of Six.
A group of six California artists including August Gay and Maurice Logan.
Most of their paintings were destroyed in the Oakland fire of 1991.
"You can see that each piece is stylistically different from one another yet they have a cohesion in the fact that they used what's called retinal painting. Painting meaning from the eye, not used from the line. So their paintings were really more about color and blocking of color rather than line or linear drawing of the subject," said Kirschenmann.
Each piece has a bar code you can scan with your smartphone to learn more about it.
"The real wealth in these paintings is the intellectual or historical value that they have. It's priceless. And to have that right here in Kern County, right in downtown Bakersfield is really amazing and quite the gem," said Kirschenmann.