YOU SEE: The Early Years of the UC Davis Studio Art Faculty
This is the catalog from the Nelson Art Gallery show "YOU SEE: The Early Years of the UC Davis Studio Art Faculty".
Between 1959 and 1962 Richard L. Nelson brought together a legendary faculty built around the participation of Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Manuel Neri, Wayne Thiebaud, and William T. Wiley. You See: The Early Years of the UC Davis Studio Art Faculty includes work from the collection of the campus gallery named in Nelson’s honor in 1976. How did it happen that a relatively obscure, rural California University, best known for its veterinary, medical and agriculture programs, was able to pull together such a major roster of artists and teachers? Nelson gathered a group of iconoclastic, talented young artists on their way up, yet deeply interested in teaching; he gave them as much freedom as he could from academic obligations, and they thrived. With Reaganism and hippiedom swirling in the communities around them these artists managed to found a highly productive and nationally respected art department that prospers to this day. We hope that the energy, values, and aesthetic of these works will offer some clues about why history was made in the Central Valley in the early sixties. This catalogue that accompanies the exhibition is illustrated with color prints of every object and essays by Renny Pritikin, Jock Reynolds and Simon Sadler. This exhibition has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.
