Balboa Day

ClassificationsPaintings-watercolors

Artist Rex Brandt (American, 1914 - 2000)

Date1981

Made AtNewport Beach, California, United States, North America

Place DepictedNewport Beach, California, United States, North America

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsApproximately: 17 × 23 in. (43.2 × 58.4 cm)
Framed: 25 1/2 × 31 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. (64.8 × 80 × 2.9 cm)

Credit LineAnn and Bill Cullen Memorial Collection

Object number2018.6.4

DescriptionRex Brandt was a member of the core group of California watercolor artists forming in the 1930s. Although he painted with other media, Brandt’s 1981 Balboa Day, illustrates his preference for watercolor—a medium which Brandt believed was the most expressive for capturing air, water, space, and light. Newport Harbor was his favorite subject matter, and sailboats were usually incorporated into these designs. These subjects allowed him to portray not only sunlight, but sunshine as well, a distinction he stated that was the difference from the light and the warmth and feeling created from the sunlight. Here Brandt has muted this normally brightly colored bay scene with dulled tones, suggesting that this was painted at dusk. We can make out many of Balboa Peninsula’s landmarks such as the Balboa Pavilion and Ferris Wheel.

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