The Hilbert Museum

Visiting the Hilbert Museum

I really liked the modest Hilbert Museum.  I enjoy collections with narrow scope, for they exist more like an exploration, or a curated exhibit on a topic, rather than a broad collection. (pun intended.)  Looking at the humble landscapes and street scenes I felt transported back to the 30s and 40s of California, a mix of nostalgia and disconnect; the scenes were at times familiar and at times totally foreign.  So much has changed in California’s recent history that I couldn’t recognize many of the scenes depicted— they are all but gone.  

Emil Kosa, Driving Along the Old Road

I particularly responded to Emil Kosa’s Driving Along the Old Road.  As a native Californian, these back roads throughout the coastal hills and Sierra foothills are part of our collective psyche.  He uses a vivacity of mark-making in the foreground which implies the breezy nature of colliding microclimates.  And the looming mass in the back ground reads as either fog or mountains enveloped by fog, either way I buy it.  He places the viewer on that backroad through the countryside, and we are delighted go along for the ride.

I also enjoyed the last few rooms with more modern paintings—the works are demonstrations what the younger generation of California artists inherited from earlier pioneers.