Hidden treasure troves of art

Suzie Harrison

Laguna’s abundant art is not exclusively found in the most likely

places -- art museums and galleries.

It can be discovered in hidden treasure troves found in residents’

private collections.

Laguna Art Museum’s “Laguna’s Hidden Treasures: Art from Private

Collections,” which will open Sunday, offers the art aficionado a

rare opportunity to experience this visual sampling.

Seventy works ranging from the early 20th century to the early

21st century will be showcased in an array of art media.

Hidden Treasures will feature pieces from nearly 40 private

collections in and around Laguna.

The exhibit is a celebration of Laguna Beach’s heritage as an

artist colony, and the local collectors who have supported the arts.

One local couple has assembled a massive collection of

approximately 200 paintings, pastels and drawings alone with

additional artworks and artifacts, housed throughout their

multi-level home, several of which will be on view at the museum.

Joe Ambrose and Mike Feddersen’s impressive acquisitions make for

a significant private collection, beautifully displayed throughout

their home.

“We started collecting art because of the historic connection,”

Ambrose said. “The art transcends time -- we all come and go, but the

art has a life of its own that transcends our mortality.”

Feddersen said the couple’s art collecting started around 1986. He

said they must have a consensus to make a purchase, which includes

numerous works in ceramics, contemporary art and sculpture.

“We both have the same taste in art,” Ambrose said. “To tell the

truth I didn’t realize in the mid-’80s that you could acquire these

paintings. I thought they were all in museums.”

Feddersen said they are known for their collection of Laguna

artists.

“[Collecting] the very important historical paintings of Laguna

Beach is a way of keeping Laguna’s art tradition alive,” Ambrose

said.

The wood-and-glass kitchen houses an integral piece featured in

last year’s Pageant of the Master’s -- “William Wendt at Work,”

painted in 1928.

“This one was a huge sensation -- the theme was ‘Portrait of the

Artist’ and it’s a portrait of William Wendt by William Griffith,”

Feddersen said. “Griffith lived across from where the museum is

today. It looks like where the Irvine Bowl is; it’s one of the key

Laguna Beach pieces.”

If history’s connection through art is their impetus, their

vehicle is California Impressionism, which is the basis of their

collection.

“Because there is so much competition for wonderful works, we’ve

expanded to include American Impressionism, basically 1890 to 1930,”

Ambrose said. “It might be considered Laguna Beach’s golden age of

painting.”

Key to that time period was artist Joseph Kleitsch, whose works

captured not just landscapes, but life and details of Downtown Laguna

in the ‘20s.

“He’s historically the premiere Laguna Beach painter,” Ambrose

said. “This room is full of Kleitsch’s paintings. Over the dining

room table, ‘Highlights’ is of all of his personal objects that he

painted on a table in Laguna Beach in 1925.”

Ambrose pointed to the violin prevalent in that piece and then to

the actual violin that was modeled by Kleitsch in “Highlights.”

“We have his violin; he played all these instruments,” Ambrose

said. “We have a lot of accessories from artists -- paintbrushes,

easels and still life objects that were used in the paintings.”

Three pieces from their collection are in the “Laguna’s Hidden

Treasures: Art from Private Collections” exhibit -- Bernhard

Gutmann’s 1914 “Baby Elizabeth”; Arthur Mathews’ 1905 “Land’s End”

and Mary Titcomb’s 1912 “Summer Girls.”

“Summer Girls” and their Gutmann 1912 “Nude Amazon with a Parrot”

were exhibited in the prestigious San Francisco Panama Pacific

International Exposition in 1915.

“We have the chair that’s in Gutmann’s ‘Baby Elizabeth’ painting

and William Wendt’s watch and field glasses,” Ambrose said. “We like

to display these objects with the paintings.”

Besides many pieces by Gutmann and Kleitsch, paintings by Roger

Kuntz and Peterpaul Ott are also significant to their collection,

Feddersen said.

“Ott’s ‘The Defender’ was exhibited in the 1939 World’s Fair in

New York,” Feddersen said. “We like things with connections; he lived

in Laguna Canyon.”

Feddersen said collecting is a passion, but it takes patience. The

couple has waited 4 to 6 years to acquire a painting.

“Once you start collecting it takes over you ... almost it’s

something that you can’t stop,” Feddersen said. “It’s interesting

when you collect you find your focus, as you learn about yourself and

your collection, your focus narrows.”

Laguna Art Museum’s “Laguna’s Hidden Treasures: Art from Private

Collections” runs to July 10. The museum is at 307 Cliff Drive. For

information, call (949) 494-8971 or go to https://www.lagunaart

museum.org.