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Katherine Westphal
'Sunset, Santa Maria della Salute', Venice, Smithsonian Museum, BMFA, De Young

About the Item

Initialed lower right, 'K.W.' for Katherine Westphal (American, 1919-2018) and painted circa 1965; additionally bearing label, verso, inscribed with artist's name and titled 'Venice'. Framed Dimensions: 33.25 x 2 x 29 Inches A large, Post-Impressionist oil showing a view of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute on the Punte della Dogana with half-a-dozen gondolas rocking on the gentle swell of the Guidecca. A vibrant modernist vedute by this well-listed California woman artist who shows the iconic Baroque church as if suspended in golden light, both reflecting the sunset and, itself, reflected in the shimmering waters. Born in Los Angeles, Katherine Westphal first attended Los Angeles City College and, subsequently, the University of California at Berkeley where she studied painting and art history and received both her Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees. In 1943, she was awarded the Phelan Travelling Scholarship which funded her travel to Mexico where she visited the studios of both David Siquieros and Diego Rivera, an experience that confirmed her lifelong preference for Modernist principles in her work. Over the course of a long and multi-faceted career, Westphal exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards. In addition to her career as a fine artist, Westphal wrote extensively on art theory and also became a beloved teacher at the University of California, Davis, becoming a tenured faculty member in 1968, a full professor in 1975. She retired in 1979 as Professor Emeritus. Katherine Westphal’s work is held in the permanent collections of prominent American museums including the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. (With thanks to Nancy Dustin Moure ) Selected Permanent Collections and Exhibitions: Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York; Trondheim Museum, Norway; National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland; San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, California; Museum at the Rhode Island School of Design American Craft Museum, New York, New York de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, California Bellevue Arts Museum, Washington Award: Fellow: American Craft Council; Gold Medal Books: Chinese Dragons and Other Creatures: Chinese embroideries of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Lancaster-Miller Publishers, 1979; Katherine Westphal: Artist and Professor, Fiber Arts Oral History Series, University of California, Berkeley, California, Interview conducted by Harriet Nathan in 1984, published 1988. The Surface Designer's Art, Introduction by Katherine Westphal, Lark Books, Asheville, NC, 1993.
  • Creator:
    Katherine Westphal (1919 - 2018)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 27.5 in (69.85 cm)Width: 23 in (58.42 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    painting: minor craquelure, minor losses, minor restoration, shows well; original, painted wood frame: minor losses, minor marks.
  • Gallery Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU3447626842

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