Santa Barbara with Cat
Artist
Robert Frame
(1924 - 1999)
Datec. 1970
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the Hilbert Collection
Object number2018.185
DescriptionOne of the perennial favorites at the Hilbert Museum, this large-scale canvas is a beautiful escape to a lovely home on the California coast. The patio doors are thrown open to allow the ocean breeze to waft through the house, and the table is set for breakfast. A patient cat sits just inside the door, perhaps waiting for breakfast to be served!Robert Frame attended Pasadena City College before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. Upon his return to civilian life, he enrolled at Pomona College, where he studied with Millard Sheets and earned a BFA degree in 1948. From 1947 to 1950, Frame studied with Henry Lee McFee at Claremont College, where he earned a MFA degree in 1951.
Over the next 20 years, Frame won many prizes in various painting exhibitions, including the 1957 Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Painting. All that time, he was also teaching. From 1953 to 1962, he was instructor of painting at Pasadena City College and from 1958 to 1966, at Otis Art Institute. In 1965, he was visiting professor at Scripps College. From 1966 to 1969, he taught occasionally at the Laguna Beach School of Art. In 1966, Frame began teaching at Santa Barbara City College. He eventually moved to that city and taught until 1986.
Frame's art is characterized by bright colors and a strong sense of design and symmetry. "Above all," Frame once said, "a painting must be a visual adventure beyond a simple representation; a metamorphosis into the magic of art."
Written by Mary Platt, Museum Director
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