In 1919, the year the Gardena High School Art Collection was founded,
Gardena was a small farming community in the southwest corner of
Los Angeles County with a low population density, a diverse populace, and
a smaller wealth base than other parts of the county. So how did Gardena
High School students develop an exceptional art collection?

From 1919 to 1956, students in the senior class selected, purchased, and
donated some seventy-two works of art to the high school as class gifts.
Artists gave the students price breaks, the students raised funds by holding
class plays, teas, and a banquet dinner, and the entire Gardena community
joined in support of the program. Over the years, artists, the federal art
projects, and other individuals and organizations throughout Southern
California also made gifts of art to the collection.

In 1923, Gardena High School designed its new auditorium to properly house
the permanent collection, establishing the first public gallery in Southern
California for regional art. Most works selected by the students prior to the
mid-1930s were California Impressionist landscapes. Later works reflect the
influence of the American Scene movement popular during the Depression
era as well as the dramatic shifts in style characteristic of the art of the
post-World War II period.

When the high school moved to a new campus in 1956, the collection largely
went into storage and became unavailable for viewing by the public. This
exhibition provides the first opportunity to see the collection in its entirety
since the mid-1950s and marks the hundredth anniversary of the collection’s
founding. It chronicles the history of the school’s ambitious endeavor within
the context of the wider cultural scene in Los Angeles, revealing that a broader
public than was previously known—one driven by educational rather than
economic values —participated in the development of Southern California art.

The exhibition GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School,
1919–1956 is organized by the GHS Art Collection, Inc. in association with
the Gardena High School Student Body and curated by Susan M. Anderson.
The exhibition and publication were generously underwritten by Yvonne Boseker,
Simon K. Chiu, Keith and Sue Colestock, and Craig K. Ihara.

Image:
Jessie Arms Botke
"Cranes Under a Giant Fern"
c. 1943
Oil and gold leaf on canvas