Wander Words

Visitors to northern California will have the opportunity to view the first tour showing of A. R. Valentien’s California watercolors since the exhibit debuted in San Diego in December 2003. The joint project of the San Diego Natural History Museum and the Irvine Museum brought 80 of Valentien’s 1094 botanical paintings to public view almost a century after their creation. Philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps commissioned Valentien in 1908 to paint all the California wildflowers. The project extended to include grasses, ferns, and trees over the following ten years. The Scripps estate donated the collection to the San Diego Natural History Museum in 1933. The Cincinnati (OH) Art Museum owns approximately 100 of Valentien’s earlier California paintings. Valentien and his wife were well-known decorators with the Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati. The exhibit includes examples of Valentien’s Rookwood pottery, landscapes in oil, historical photographs, and personal artifacts. It is showing at the Oakland Museum of California until December 4.
Hours
Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday, noon - 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
First Friday of each month open until 9 p.m.
Museum closed on these holidays:
New Years Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day

The Oakland Museum of California is located in downtown Oakland, one block from the Lake Merritt BART station and a few blocks from highway 880. Parking is available in our underground garage, or you can park in the lot located at the Kaiser Events Center next to the museum on 10th Street.

Georganna Hancock wrote this on April 27th, 2005 and filed it under Travel |