La Jolla Flora Part of Larger Botanical Collection

Matilija Poppies -Albert Valentien

All art is interconnected. The study and practice of sculpture can improve ones ability to paint, while painting can improve ones photography. It is not unusual for an artist to employ their talent over a spectrum of media. Albert R. Valentien was an established pottery painter before he found a passion for painting flora in La Jolla. His most extensive collection of paintings is in the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Valentien was born in Cincinnati, in 1862, and began his art education at School of Design at the University of Cincinnati. His favorite study was pottery decoration and he became so proficient that by 1881 he was hired as the chief decorator at Rookwood Pottery. He remained the chief decorator for over twenty years. Albert and his wife, Anne, went to Paris for a while so Anne could study sculpture from Rodin. Albert submitted some of his work to the Universal Exposition of 1900 and won the Gold Medal for his pottery decoration.

In the spring of 1903, the Valentiens traveled to San Diego to visit family. They fell in love with the beauty of La Jolla and San Diego and decided to stay. Albert discovered a passion for painting flowers and produced 130 paintings of the local plants. These paintings are now a part of the Cincinnati Art Museum. Not long after, Ellen Browning Scripps, La Jolla resident and philanthropist, commissioned Albert to paint the entirety of the California flora. The commission took nearly ten years to complete and required that the couple travel all around the state collecting specimens. In all, Albert Valentien painted 1,200 pieces. The collection was donated to the San Diego Natural History Museum.  

The collection is one of the largest by any one artist on a single subject. Valentien truly captured the beauty of the local natural flora. For more information on local art in La Jolla, visit Thumbprint Gallery on Kline Street. The gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12-4pm. 

Source: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v54-4/pdf/v54-4Stern.pdf

http://botanicalillustration.blogspot.com/2009/11/california-legacy-of-albert-r-valentien.html

La Jolla's Angel: Ellen Browning Scripps

Ellen Browning Scripps

San Diego has been home to many famous and influential people. As fortune would have it, several of these people decided to share their wealth with the population, enabling the surrounding communities to grow and flourish into cultural centers. La Jolla has had the extreme luck of being the beneficiary of philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps. Along with other gifts, Ellen Scripps donated the first public park near La Jolla Cove and the Torrey Pines State Park.

Ellen Browning Scripps was born on October 18, 1836, in Cleveland, Ohio, to newspaper tycoon Edward Willis Scripps. Ellen was the only one of her family to attend college. She was not given any money towards her education, and paid for it by becoming a teacher. In 1856 she was admitted to the Female Collegiate Department at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. Diplomas were not given to women, but in 1870, when the college became co-ed, Ellen was awarded a Doctorate of Letters from Knot College.

She moved to La Jolla in 1897 after having a house built on the coast. When Ellen’s father died, she inherited a large amount of wealth. Ellen decided to hold the money “in trust” for humanity. Much money from her father’s will was given to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Ellen donated to the Scripps Memorial Hospital, the Scripps Research Clinic, and founded Scripps Hospital and Scripps Metabolic Clinic. She also gave generously to Scripps Cottage at San Diego State University, the Bishop’s School, and founded the La Jolla Public Library.

Ellen Browning Scripps commissioned 1,200 watercolor paintings of California flora by artist Albert R. Valentien, which she donated to the San Diego Museum of Natural History after her death.  Her own home was designed by Irving Gill in 1915, became what is now the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art.

The legacy of Ellen Browning Scripps allowed to the community of La Jolla to become a cultural and artistic hub. To learn more about the continuing artistic tradition of local artists, visit Thumbprint Gallery on Kline Street in La Jolla. The gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12pm to 4pm.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Browning_Scripps

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v54-4/pdf/v54-4Stern.pdf