 Joseph Kleitsch:
A Kaleidoscope of Color by Patricia Trenton – Hardcover: 383 pages; The Irvine Museum (2007) Lavishly illustrated, this definitive study encompasses Kleitsch's career in capturing the light and beauty of California. Includes forwards by Jean Stern, Joan Irvine Smith and James Swinden, selected bibliography, and an index of illustrations.
 California Light: A Century of Landscapes by Jean Stern, Molly Siple – Hardcover: 276 pages; Skira Rizzoli; 1st edition (Apr 12, 2011) Best Seller A first-of-its-kind celebration of the California Art Club, a society whose members have for one hundred years captured California’s staggeringly beautiful landscapes in resplendent plein air paintings.
 Artists at Continent's End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875-1907 by Scott A. Shields – Paperback: 357 pages; University of California Press; 1st edition (Apr 17, 2006) Few regions rival the magnificence of California's Monterey Peninsula. This beauty, together with a mild climate, rich history, and simplicity of lifestyle, encouraged the development of one of the nation’s foremost art colonies. From 1875 to the first years of the twentieth century, artists were drawn to the towns of Monterey, Pacific Grove, and then Carmel. Artists at Continent's End is the first in-depth examination of the importance of the Monterey Peninsula, which during this period came to epitomize California art. Beautifully illustrated with a wealth of images, including many never before published, this book tells the fascinating story of eight principal protagonists—Jules Tavernier, William Keith, Charles Rollo Peters, Arthur Mathews, Evelyn McCormick, Francis McComas, Gottardo Piazzoni, and photographer Arnold Genthe—and a host of secondary players who together established an enduring artistic legacy.
 The Society of Six: California Colorists by Nancy Boas, Charles Eldredge – Hardcover: 224 pages; University of California Press; Reprint edition (Mar 30, 1997) Six plein-air painters in Oakland, California, joined together in 1917 to form an association that lasted nearly fifteen years. The Society of Six Selden Connor Gile, Maurice Logan, William H. Clapp, August F. Gay, Bernard von Eichman, and Louis Siegriestcreated a color-centered modernist idiom that shocked establishment tastes but remains the most advanced painting of its era in Northern California.
 Artists in California, 1786-1940 by Edan Milton Hughes – Hardcover: 637 pages; Hughes Pub; 2nd edition (Jun 1, 1989) Artists in California, 1786-1940, researched and written by Edan Milton Hughes, is now in its third and final edition. Updated, enhanced, and more comprehensive than ever before, the two-volume, 1250 page hardbound set includes detailed biographies of nearly 20,000 early California artists, many of which are represented no where else. Listings in Hughes Artists in California typically include a succinct, well-written overview of the major events in the artist s life. Listings also include the artist s medium, and field of art, subject matter and general themes, and employment, as well as demographic information such as location and date of birth and demise, exhibitions, associations and memberships. Source documents are noted. Unlike many other biographical references, Artists in California is readable and entertaining. For example, randomly opening the book to page 398, one finds a number of Freemans including Howard Benton Freeman from Hayward who was a professional bike racing star. He later went on to New York and created the comic strip Doc Lee. There is also Canadian Lillie Littlejohn Freeman who with her husband created the Freeman Art Company in Eureka, moving from San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. She died in 1923 when her car was struck by a train. The scope of Artists in California is broad as it encompasses artists from around the world who at one time resided in California. Such inclusiveness helps make Artists in California a valuable resource in any reference library.
 Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area by Steven A. Nash, Bill Berkson, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco – Paperback: 250 pages; University of California Press (Jun 1, 1995) The San Francisco Bay Area boasts one of the richest and most continuous traditions of landscape art in the entire country. Looking back over the past one hundred years, the contributors to this in-depth survey consider the diverse range of artists who have been influenced by the region's compelling union of water and land, peaks and valleys, and fog and sunlight. Paintings, sculpture, graphic arts, photography, landscape architecture, earthworks, conceptual art, and designs in city planning and architecture are all represented.
 Plein Air Painters of California, the Southland by Ruth Lilly Westphal – Hardcover: 228 pages; Westphal (Oct 1, 1982) This book presents biographical information on 37 artists who painted plein air scenes of Southern California, mostly in the Impressionist style, between 1890 and 1940. The artists are grouped according to which art colony or city they are primarily associated with (Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and San Diego) and there are essays about the art communities in each.
In each artist’s section there is a photograph or painted portrait of the artist and a quick reference to training, studio locations, residences in California, memberships, awards and public collections. The biographies are very well written and provide satisfyingly detailed character sketches of each artist as well as stylistic analysis.
 Plein Air Painters of California the North by Ruth Lilly Westphal, Janet B. Dominik – Hardcover: 206 pages; Westphal Publications; 1st edition (Jun 1, 1986) This is the companion to Plein Air Painters of California: the Southland, with the same format and covering artists active during the same time period (the 1890’s through the 1930’s) as the first book, but dealing with those who lived primarily in Northern California, as far down as Santa Barbara.
Also, as in the first book, the style of art included here is predominantly Impressionist, though the Japonisme-influenced Tonalism of Gottardo Piazzoni and the Post-Impressionism of the Society of Six represent the broader range of styles that the painters from San Francisco and its environs worked in.
With a history of well-established art schools, artists’ associations, and museums, these artists had a much firmer foundation of regional tradition to build upon (or react against) than did their counterparts in Los Angeles, which was still struggling to establish itself as a cultural center.
|  Painting California: Seascapes and Beach Towns by Jean Stern, Molly Siple, Elaine Adams (Foreword) – Hardcover: 276 pages; Rizzoli Electa (Oct 3, 2017) Best SellerLuminous, gorgeously realized landscape paintings made en plein air by members of the California Art Club over the past 100 years.
 Guy Rose: American Impressionist by Will South – Hardcover: 119 pages; The Irvine Museum; 1st edition (1995) Comprehensive and well researched book on the life and art of Guy Rose (1867-1925), California's most important Impressionist painter. 180 pages, 14" x 10", 120 color plates, 32 black and white photographs
 California Impressionists by Susan Landauer, Donald D. Keyes, Jean Stern – Hardcover: 100 pages; University of California Press (Jul 6, 1996) Best Seller The years around the turn of the century were a dynamic time in American art. Different and seemingly contradictory movements were evolving, and the dominant style that emerged during this period was Impressionism. Based in part on the broken brushwork and high-keyed palette of Claude Monet, it was a form especially suited to the dramatic landscape and shimmering light of California.
American Impressionism grew in popularity as artists from across the nation migrated to the Golden State. There they created a remarkable style, often referred to as California plein-air painting, combining several aspects of American and European art and capturing the brilliant mix of color and light that defined California.
This book celebrates forty Impressionist painters who worked in California from 1900 through the beginning of the Great Depression. A joint effort of The Irvine Museum and the Georgia Museum of Art, it includes widely recognized California artists such as Maurice Braun and Guy Rose, less well known artists such as Mary DeNeale Morgan and Donna Schuster, and eastern painters who worked briefly in the region, such as Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase.
The contributors' essays examine the socioeconomic forces that shaped this art movement, as well as the ways in which the art reflected California's self- cultivated image as a healthful, sun-splashed arcadia. Beautifully illustrated, with 72 full-color plates, California Impressionists recreates the vibrant splendor of a unique period in American art.
 California: This Golden Land of Promise by Joan Irvine Smith, Jean Stern – Hardcover: 365 pages; The Irvine Museum; 1st edition (2001) 405 color illustrations and 88 black and white illustrations. California's rich and colorful past comes to life in this book, a fascinating narrative illustrated by close to 500 works of art and historical photographs. This volume presents California's early and often-tumultuous history, from the first appearance of Native Americans up to 14,000 years ago through the period that followed California's entry into statehood in 1850.
 California Impressionism by William H. Gerdts, Will South – Hardcover: 284 pages; Abbeville Press; 1st edition (Apr 1, 1998) Lavishly illustrated, meticulously researched, and gracefully written, this definitive study of California's distinctive style of impressionism surveys the movement's sources abroad, its most influential artists, and the critical responses to the style. 248 illustrations, 201 in color.
 Paintings of California by Arnold Skolnick, Ilene Susan Fort – Paperback: 128 pages; University of California Press; 1st edition (Oct 1, 1997) Full-color reproductions of landscape paintings by Albert Bierstadt, George Innes, Childe Hassam, George Bellows, David Hockney, and other notable artists—accompanied by prose and poetry—capture the diverse landscapes of California. 100 full-color illustrations.
 ASARO: A New Romanticism by Robert Perine – Hardcover: 112 pages; Artra Pub; 1st edition (Feb 1, 1992) This book is a biography of the life of the artist John Asaro with over 100 full color reprductions of his watercolors and oils. This covers over 30 years of his life and work (1960-1992). The reproductions include landscapes, dancers, beach scenes, nudes, women and children.
 Masters of Light: Plein-Air Painting in California 1890-1930 by John Stern & William H. Gerdts – Hardcover: 200 pages; The Irvine Museum; 1st edition. (2002) Mounted as the first exhibition of California Impressionist paintings, the Irvine Museum exhibit drew record crowds in Paris and throughout Europe. This book contains some of the very best work of 58 California artists, some of whom studied in France including Alson Clark, Alfred Mitchell, Guy Rose, William Ritschel and many others. 200 pages, 110 color illustrations.
 California Art: 450 Years of Painting & Other Media by Nancy D. Wallmoure, Nancy Dustin Wall Moure – Hardcover: 560 pages; Dustin Publication; 1st edition (Nov 15, 1998) 560 pps., 475+ color illus; 50+ black and whites; bibliography. A history of the styles of California Art from the time of the first explorers to the present day.
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California Art Club 93rd Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition
American Impressionism: A California Collage
Palette of Light: California paintings from the Irvine Museum
All Things Bright & Beautiful, California Impressionist Paintings from The Irvine Museum
Impressions of California: Early Currents in Art, 1850-1930
Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art
Masterworks of California Impressionism
American Impressionism California School Fleischer Museum 
In and Out of California: Travels of American Impressionists
