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December 2, 2022
MoAW
presents
THEN AND NOW
A Loving Tribute to Cathedral City's Early History
THE ARTISTS OF THE COVE
The Cathedral City Historical Society intrigues us with three of the most prominent Artists of the Cove, on view exclusively at the Museum of Ancient Wonders.
The Artists of the Cove narrative is provided by
www.CaliforniaDesertArt.com
The images are from the collection of
the Historical Society of Cathedral City
and the portrait of Marguerite Hillery
is Courtesy of the Hillery Family Trust.
Beginning in the 1930s, several talented artists made their way to Cathedral City from the East and the Midwest to find the tranquility they needed to create and establish a very important period in American Art.
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Val Samuelson, oil on canvas. | |
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Val Samuelson
Bulldozing Modernist,
(1913 - 2000)
For such a small place, the Cathedral City Cove has sheltered more than its share of leading-edge individualists. Val Samuelson lived in the Cove for 37 years. He was one of the first desert painters to move heavily into abstraction - a museum director called him a "romantic abstractionist." Born in Barrett, Minnesota, he studied at the Minnesota School of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts.
He showed his work throughout the Southland and had a major influence as art director of Villager Magazine (precursor of Palm Springs Life) and art director of the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He had lifelong vision problems and listened to cassettes of classical music as he was painting to compensate - naming some of his pieces after symphonies.
All of that is well enough, but you know you are really from Cathedral City if you know this important fact: Val Samuelson (along with Mike Dunn) built the Dunn Road, the ill-fated Road to Nowhere at the back of the Cove. It descends 15 miles from HWY 74 in the mountains to the desert floor in Cathedral City. Samuelson personally piloted the 50-ton Caterpillar and sometimes sold paintings to pay for gasoline. Not every town can claim its own Bulldozing Modernist.
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Billie Seaman, oil on canvas | |
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Matille Prigge Seaman
(1883 - 1966)
The Artist and Art Teacher seen in this portrait was one of Cathedral City's earliest residents, arriving prior to 1929. She helped set the style for open mindedness in the community.
Billie, as she was called, was big, unconventional, and dressed in men's clothing. She was embraced by small-town neighbors including Willard "Bill" Hillery (1881 - 1961), his son (the first major) Bob Hillery (born in 1929), and also the artist, Agnes Pelton, who arrived in town in 1932.
Billie's personal Derringer seen on display in this exhibition was etched with the name of Mrs. Jim Seaman; her late husband was a warden in the Azusa mountains in 1907. Billie Seaman had been a horsewoman growing up in White Plains, New York, and also learned to shoot as a young woman. Packing a Remington .41 Derringer - a favorite of outlaws and gamblers - came as naturally to her as carrying car keys.
The portrait and Derringer were inherited by Billie's friend, a former Cathedral City resident and U.S. Air Force veteran named Wilma "Jeannie" Parker. After Parker's death in 2016, her partner Paulina Dellosso arranged to have the items returned to the Cathedral City Historical Society. (The Derringer once hung above the mantel in Billie's Cathedral City home). The Historical Society is grateful to Dellaosso, who was intent that the pieces remain at home.
This 1935 portrait of Billie posted above poses a mystery for art fans. The artist is unknown and the inscription is illegible (at least to the Historical Society). This is obviously a skilled artist who was able to capture Billie's intense, slightly world-weary expression. One tantalizing possibility: The artist could be Agnes Pelton herself. Pelton was painting portraits of her neighbors at the time including Marguerite Hillery (mother of Bob Hillery) and arts patron Christina Lillian. Could this be Agnes Pelton's portrait of her neighbor and friend Billie Seaman? If so, what about the mystery inscription? Your guesses are welcome. The house that Billie Seaman built for herself still stands at 37-086 Cathedral City Canyon Drive.
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Agnes Pelton (1881-1961), “Heart Music, aka Happy Heart,” 1944, 1948-1949, oil on canvas. On loan to the Hilbert Museum from an anonymous lender. Courtesy of an anonymous lender. Hannah Montante, Chapman University, February 14, 2020 | |
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Agnes Pelton at work in her Hayground windmill studio circa 1923. Agnes Pelton Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Agnes Pelton
(1881 - 1961)
Agnes Pelton is currently one of the most famous artists in the world. A recent exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art elevated her to the level of stars like Georgia O'Keeffe.
Arts writers exult in using words like mystical, spectral, and cosmic to describe her - yet she was grounded and rooted in everyday life here in the Cathedral City Cove from 1932 until her death in 1961. The portrait you see here, taken by Pelton's neighbor Wilson Ellis, suggests the serene yogi so widely portrayed in the media.
Pelton was a down-to-earth and involved member of the early Cathedral City art community, a friend to Boy Scouts, and stray cats. This rarely-seen portrait shows her in her later years when she was suffering from illness and was decidedly frail. Still, she reveled in visits with her neighbor Matille "Billie" Seaman, as well as chats with a young Bob Hillery. As you study the portrait, you will see the face of a woman content to be among friends near the end of her life. As she once said: "This region has taken me in, accepted me."
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Portrait of Marguerite Hillery
by Agnes Pelton
Agnes' Neighborhood
While art scholars have zeroed in on Agnes Pelton's mystical interests, just as important to her acclaimed art was her grounding in the small village of Cathedral City.
The teapot you see here served guests at many of Pelton's art shows at her home in the Cove. Her friend and neighbor Marguerite Hillery poured the tea, then asked visitors to sign the Pelton guestbook. The guestbook was given to the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. The teapot remains in the Hillery family, a well-used memento of the small-town life of a world-famous artist.
In a further measure of Pelton's dedication to local life, the artist painted many portraits of her neighbors. The portrait you see here, of tea-server Marguerite Hillery, was inherited by Marguerite's son Robert Hillery (1928 - 2018), the first elected mayor of Cathedral City. The portrait still hangs in the family home.
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CURRENT EXHIBTIONS ON DISPLAY | |
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ALL UNDER HEAVEN
Earth, Heaven,
and the Afterlife
A Very Special Gift From
Marlene and Bruce Kanter,
Heather James Fine Art
Tim Walsh
Michael H. Healy
Tianxia (天下) or, All Under Heaven, is the ideal of a perfect and harmonious empire in the eyes of the people.
50 original antiquities spanning millennia (3,600 B.C.E. to 1920s C.E.) of ancient Asian cultures, from mysterious funerary objects and life-size protective temple guardians, to delicate terracotta sculptures created for the tombs of the deceased. A tapestry of silk and gold thread, a rare lacquered cosmetic box, earthen vessels, and bronze statues, these ancient treasures from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, celebrate everlasting happiness, remembrance, and eternal life.
This grand collection of 50 Asian antiquities is divided into three sections: Earthly possessions, objects used by the living, the temple icons of Buddha and Shiva (Heaven), and funerary goods, objects found in the tombs of the elite (the Afterlife). Representing China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, MoAW premieres these dazzling artifacts for the first time together in one exhibition All Under Heaven: Earth, Heaven, and the Afterlife.
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PALEO: The Story of Life
4.6 billion years of fossil history
Drawn from the world’s foremost fossil collections, the unprecedented treasury of fossil casts known as PALEO: The Story of Life brings together in one exhibition some of the most exciting finds in the history of paleontology from over a century of worldwide excavations, exhibited in geological, chronological order.
From 2.5 billion-year-old single cellular cyanobacteria responsible for the oxygenation of the atmosphere to the first multicellular life of 700 million years ago, PALEO: The Story of Life spans 4.6 billion years in scope. From the Precambrian to the Paleozoic Era, from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods of the Mesozoic Era to mammals and prehistoric humans of the Cenozoic Era (including the famous Lucy skeleton), this internationally acclaimed, comprehensive collection dramatically illustrates the awesome story of prehistoric life on Earth.
Displaying casts of rare fossils from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, this prestigious collection includes skeletons, skulls, claws, and eggs gathered from such revered museums as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, The Royal Ontario Museum, the Carnegie Museum, and the National Museums of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, as well as many others.
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THE CRAB NEBULA (M1) IN TAURUS.
Photographed with the 26-inch Crossley Reflector at Lick Observatory. Copyright Regents, University of California. Lick Observatory photograph.
STARSCAPE:
A Journey To The
Beginning of Time
This spectacular collection of 33 space photographs combines breathtaking digitalized images from the historic Mariner, Viking, and Voyager probes with stunning photographs from the Apollo lunar missions, the Hubble Space Telescope, and ground-based observatories. Gathered from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the California Institute of Technology, the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, and the Hansen Planetarium, this awesome display of cosmic spectacles is a journey to the early days of the cosmos.
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photo: Steven Salisbury
LUCY:
(Australopithecus afarensis)
The Story of Human Origins
(Courtesy of the Institute of Human Origins and
the National Museum of Ethiopia,
Addis Ababa)
On view exclusively at the
Museum of Ancient Wonders
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JURASSIC WONDERS
11 Lifesize Metal Dinosaurs
Public Art Display
created by
Ricardo Breceda
MoAW presents JURASSIC WONDERS, a public art installation in collaboration with Cathedral City, displaying 11 lifesize Dinosaurs created by renowned artist Ricardo Breceda. Divided into 4 stunning dioramas on the corner of Buddy Rogers Drive and East Palm Canyon Drive across the street from City Hall, this magnificent exhibition will be on view until December 31, 2022.
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TUTANKHAMUN
"Wonderful Things"
Treasures From The Pharaoh's Tomb
2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. To share in the commemoration, MoAW's "Wonderful Things" exhibition is on a nationwide tour. Click on the link below to see the installation on the banks of the Sacramento River at Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding CA.
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FREE WEEKEND ADMISSION TO ALL
COACHELLA VALLEY RESIDENTS
Museum of Ancient Wonders Offers Free Admission on Saturdays and Sundays
to All Residents in Association with Nine Coachella Valley Municipalities
Beginning September 3, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays, local families are invited to visit MoAW at no charge. This generous offer will end on December 31, 2022.
Free admission will require all attending residents to produce identification that lists a local address, signing of the registry, and fill out a brief survey identifying at least one object in the museum’s collection that inspired them to want to learn more about the subject.
For further information visit: www.MoAW.org or call (442) 268-5004.
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Become A Member of MoAW
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON
The newest perk of membership: Free admission to more than 1,200 museums nationwide through the North American Reciprocal Museum Program (NARM) Plus, discounts at their museum shops and restaurants (if given to their members). Local museums include the Palm Springs Art Museum and Cabot's Pueblo Museum, several museums in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, throughout California, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, including Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. This is available to all members at the Donor Level ($125.00) or higher. Members who qualify will be receiving new membership cards with the NARM logo to be used at participating museums.
Current members who would like to upgrade their membership to take advantage of this new benefit please give us a call, (442) 268-5004.
Click below for more information and to join.
THANK YOU
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MoAW's mission is to educate a diverse audience about the history of ancient civilizations and prehistoric life using fossils and artifacts from a variety of cultures and time periods; to enhance universal curriculum development for local and surrounding school districts, colleges, and universities, establishing museum diversity for the Coachella Valley.
Hours of Operation:
Monday - Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
The last admission is taken one hour before closing.
Admission:
$15.00 Adults
$12.00 Students, Seniors, & Military
$ 3.00 Discount available for Coachella Valley Residents
$10.00 Group Rate for 10 or more individuals.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, MoAW is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association, the American Alliance of Museums, and the California Association of Museums. Contributions are tax-deductible and gratefully accepted.
MoAW IS SPONSORED WITH FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
BY THE FOLLOWING:
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Alberto Acosta, Executive Director & Chief Curator
Joseph McCabe, CFO & Director of Development
DEW FOUNDATION
By contributing financial support, DEW Foundation joins hands with effective charitable organizations to meet human needs and promote the common good worldwide, encouraging and empowering our family’s personal involvement.
Art Laboe Foundation, Inc.
A beloved resident of Palm Springs, Art Laboe was an American disc jockey, songwriter, record producer, and radio station owner. He was generally credited with coining the term "Oldies but Goodies".
Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation
The mission of the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation
is to support Arts & Culture, Youth, Educational, Medical and,
Social Servies, and Community activities that enhance the quality of life.
Municipalities & Societies
Cathedral City Historical Society
Council Members Raymond Gregory &
Nancy Ross, Cathedral City
City of Rancho Mirage
Members and Patrons
THANK YOU
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