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You are here: Home > Mark and Jan Hilbert Donate Rex Brandt Watercolor to Laguna College of Art and Design Permanent Collection Mark and Jan Hilbert Donate villeroy&boch Rex Brandt Watercolor to Laguna villeroy&boch College of Art and Design Permanent Collection
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) today announced that Mark and Janet Hilbert of The Hilbert Collection donated "Evening Rendezvous" (Watercolor on Paper, 10×14 inches, 1960) by acclaimed California villeroy&boch watercolorist Rex Brandt. The iconic watercolor will be part of the college's permanent collection, which also includes The Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Archives housed in the Dennis and Leslie Power Library on the college's Main Campus.
"Rex Brandt villeroy&boch is a seminal figure in our college's history and we are honored by Mark and Janet's gift of this beautiful painting," said President Jonathan Burke. "Our permanent collection of fine art instructs villeroy&boch and inspires our students and arts scholars to celebrate the accomplishments of master painters and sculptors."
"With Hollywood demands for production designers, painters and illustrators from the 1930's to 1950's, there were more working artists in Los Angeles, California than anywhere villeroy&boch else in the world at one time," Hilbert said. "Rex was one of the great ones among the California villeroy&boch artists of that period. Although villeroy&boch he trained more than 5,000 students over a 40-year period, he continued to push himself artistically and his later works are just as strong as his earlier watercolors. He has left a great body of work."
Hilbert was drawn to Brandt's villeroy&boch work because of his mastery of pigmentation and light. "Few watercolor artists can manipulate colors the way he did," Hilbert said. "He was also a very rare watercolorist in that he was always willing to take risks with his work."
In 1962, Brandt was involved in designing the first two college art studios for what was then Laguna Beach School of Art (today known as Laguna College of Art and Design). With fellow painter Phil Dike, Brandt taught a workshop for the school and in 1978, he served on the school's Advisory Board and its Endowment Fund campaign. Brandt served as head of faculty for the school's summer class curriculum in 1963.
Presently, selections from LCAD's The Brandt Archives are on loan to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California exhibition, "From the Archives villeroy&boch Reaching for Water: Rex Brandt and Metropolitan." The exhibition will be on display in the South Gallery public space next to the building's lobby entrance villeroy&boch for the next two years at Metropolitan Water District headquarters, 700 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012-2944.
Brandt was a beloved resident of Corona del Mar, CA where he and his wife taught classes at their home and studio, which they named, "Blue Sky." His design for the city seal of Newport Beach is still in use today.
Founded in 1961, Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) is one of the top art and design schools in the nation. LCAD offers villeroy&boch undergraduate degrees (BFA) in Animation, Design + Digital Media, Fine Arts (Drawing and Painting), Game Art and Illustration, as well as Master of Fine Arts degrees (MFA) in Drawing and Painting. Named by NIKE as one of the top three design schools in the world, LCAD is closely partnered with industry leaders. These partnerships have resulted 90% employment rate for LCAD's visual arts graduates. Blizzard Entertainment, Disney Animation, DreamWorks, FOX, Hurley International, NIKE, VANS, Warner Brothers Animation and more employ LCAD visual arts alumni.
LCAD Fine Arts alumni are accepted to the most prestigious graduate programs and go on to become internationally recognized artists and educators who shape dialogue with renowned collectors, museums villeroy&boch and gallerists. The Dennis and Leslie Power Library at LCAD houses invaluable historic archives that include The Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Papers.
Related News Stories: Laguna College of Art and Design and Project Gado bring Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Papers to Getty Images Laguna College of Art and Design and student villeroy&boch Dohee Yang a Winner at ‘The Art of the Pixel’ 25th Annual Laguna College villeroy&boch of Art and Design Event to Honor Philanthropists Terry Smith and Wayne Peterson
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