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The year 1993 marks the 75th anniversary of the Laguna Art Museum. An exhibition of art in Los Angeles before 1900 on the occasion of this anniversary celebration is only fitting, as it exemplifies so much of what the Museum stands for and strives to achieve. A museum of American art with a focus on the art of California, Laguna Art Museum is committed to presenting a series of landmark exhibitions that document and bring into critical focus the emergence and development of diverse artistic movements important to the history of art in California. This exhibition and its catalogue focus for the first time on the range and vitality of early Southern California art. While extensive, this study in no way exhausts the subject. Rather it is meant to open the possibility of future investigations.

Scholarly research into the period and its art was enabled by the assistance of many people, in particular the capable staffs of the Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, California; the West Coast Regional Center of the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, San Marino; and the University of Southern California Archives and Regional History Center, Los Angeles. Also helpful were Phil and Marian Kovinick; Alfred Harrison, North Point Gallery; Bruce Kamerling, San Diego Historical Society; Mildred Albrondra; Ellen Schwartz; and Norman Neuerburg. Patricia Trenton offered suggestions to the author on reorganizing the manuscript in a more meaningful way; Walter Nelson Rees also made constructive suggestions on the initial manuscript. I am particularly grateful to publication editor Jeanne D’Andrea, whose editing of the manuscript was astute, sensitive, and meticulous. Designers Lilli Colton and Steven Rachwal added a critical component to this book about regional art: an elegant and intelligent design.

Adjunct curator Nancy Dustin wall Moure is to be commended for what she has accomplished in this thorough document. As she has done in the past, Ms. Moure has added substantially to our knowledge of pre-1945 California art. All the Museum staff were expertly involved in the numerous aspects of the exhibition but in particular I would like to thank Curator of Exhibitions Susan M. Anderson, who coordinated the exhibition and production of the catalogue,. Curator of Collections Bolton Colburn, who coordinated the loan process and shipping; and Assistant Curator Lisa Buck, who assisted with loans and the coordination of photography.

For making this exhibition possible I gratefully acknowledge, on behalf of the Museum and its trustees, the generous support that made this special 75th anniversary project a reality. This exhibition would not have been possible without the significant initial donation toward the book made by the Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R. Clarke Foundation. Additional generous support came from Mrs. Camilla Chandler Frost; Red fern Gallery; Trotter Galleries, Terry and Paula Trotter; Elma Shoemaker; and the Historical Collections Council. These contributions have allowed us to produce a substantial, well-illustrated book and exhibition that document the diversity and beauty of early regional art.