Our First Five National Academicians, Carmel Art Association, Exhibition - August 1989
9 x 9 inches, 50 pages, 64 illustrations, softcover, new - $25.00
The Carmel Art Association presents an exhibition of works by: Paul Dougherty, Arthur Hill Gilbert, Armin Hansen, William Ritschel, and Howard E. Smith.
Foreword by William F. Stone, Jr. President, Carmel Art Association. Introduction by Gael Donovan, Director.
The National Academy of Design in New York was founded in 1825 and is the oldest art organization in the United States. Many prominent American artists have been members of the Academy from S.F. B Morse and Winslow Homer to Andrew Wyeth and Wayne Thiebaud. Great prestige is accorded any artist who gains entrance into the Academy. In the East, the National Academy has a formidable reputation, but it has not been as well known in the West. Yet many West Coast artists have been granted membership, and many members from the East have decided to settle in the West. Both cases are represented by our five National Academicians.
The five men represented in this exhibition were not only great painters and National Academicians, but movers and doers who helped form the Carmel Art Association into the organization it is today. They put their time and energy and their spirits behind a fledgling association enabling it to grow and prosper.
The Carmel Art Association not only was incorporated but found as permanent home during the tenure of their influence. They and many others helped to cement for the future the ideals and goals of the original group who had worked so hard to establish the Association and keep it alive through some very rough years.
In memory of their dedication to the Carmel Art Association and as a tribute to the genius of their collective art, we wish to honor them with the exhibition, "Our First Five National Academicians."
Gael Donovan, Director