A retrospective exhibition of artworks by Milford Zornes will open Thursday at the Henderson Fine Arts Center Gallery, at San Juan College.
The public is invited to the Record of a Journey: Milford Zornes, an opening reception with refreshments, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday. The show runs through Jan. 27.
Margaret Clair, director of public arts events for the college, said Zornes’ art was donated in 2020 by the Culpepper family through the San Juan College foundation. Gallery coordinator Julie Napientek selected the 55 artworks for the show from among the 125 that the Culpeppers donated. The others were hung throughout the campus.
“We put together a strong show,” Napientek said.
Robert Culpepper had collected Zorne’s art since the 1950s, she said.
“We have pieces from every decade of his artistic career,” Napientek said. “Stylistically, through the decades you can see the change with the earlier work being a little more detailed. … More of shape, form and color.”
Mary Culpepper resides in Farmington. Her husband, Robert, a Farmington mayor 1979 to 1982, has died. The Culpeppers have been strong supporters of San Juan College and have donated several Navajo rugs and weavings to the Museum of Navajo Art and Culture, said Rhonda Schaefer, director of public relations for the college.
The building that houses the Museum of Navajo Art and Culture, 301 W. Main St., was donated by the Culpeppers. It celebrates the art, culture and history of the Diné people and includes an impressive collection of Navajo weavings.
Zornes, born in 1908 in rural western Oklahoma near Camargo, moved to Boise, Idaho, when he was 7 years old. His mother, a former schoolteacher, taught him to draw as a child, but he didn’t receive formal training until his late teens when the family moved to Southern California.
After graduating from San Fernando High School in Los Angeles, Zornes sold some of his photographs to various publications, including Popular Science, Scientific American and Popular Mechanics, and wrote a few articles.
He then attended Santa Maria Junior College for a year and rented a room in the home of two art teachers. They encouraged him to become a painter, but he resisted and decided to study architecture in San Francisco.
Zornes attended Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art & Design) in 1929, where he later taught art. After three years there, he attended Pomona College and took classes with Millard Sheets at Scripps College in Claremont, California.
He also took private classes with F. Tolles Chamberlin, and while attending Pomona College, Zornes became part of the California Scene Painters movement. During the Great Depression, he and his colleagues began painting in watercolor because of the medium’s versatility, low cost and ease in transporting to paint on site.
Zornes mastered the medium, even though the immediate drying qualities of the paint allowed for few mistakes. He worked on murals as part of the Works Progress Administration program of the New Deal, one for the post office in his hometown of Claremont, California, and another in El Campo, Texas.
Drafted during World War II, Zornes became an official Army artist and traveled through China, Myanmar and India, painting landscapes, local people and a few military scenes. He also drew portraits of military staff.
If you go
What: Record of a Journey: Milford Zornes, a retrospective art exhibit.
When: Opening reception with refreshments on Thursday, Jan. 12, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The show runs Jan. 12-27.
Where: Henderson Fine Arts Center Gallery at San Juan College, 4601 College Blvd., Farmington.
Information: (505) 326-3311.
Most of the California Scene painters scattered after the war, but a few continued to work together and socialize. Zornes taught watercolor workshops internationally and mentored other artists, with his subject matter often being drawn from extensive travel.
Zornes married Gloria Codd in 1935, had one son, Franz. He had one daughter, Maria, with his second wife, Patricia Mary Palmer, to whom he was married for 66 years.
Despite contracting macular degeneration in his mid-80s and with deteriorating vision, Zornes continued to paint until his death. At age 96, he completed a large triptych art piece for East Los Angeles College, and masterfully held art workshops and demonstrations.
He was president of the California Watercolor Society and was selected as a member of the National Academy of Design. From 1955 to 1966, he served as the art director for the Padua Hills Theater in Claremont, California.
Zornes’ works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Library of Congress.
The day after his 100th birthday on Jan. 26, 2008, Zornes gave an art demonstration at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, standing in front of a crowd for two hours to discuss art.
James Milford Zornes died Feb. 24, 2008, at home in Claremont.
The Henderson Fine Arts Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Schools and groups may arrange a tour by emailing clairm@sanjuancollege.edu.
