{"id":2477198,"date":"2026-06-26T17:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2477198"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:43:51","slug":"orange-county-museum-of-art-highlights-uncredited-hollywood-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/orange-county-museum-of-art-highlights-uncredited-hollywood-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County Museum of Art highlights uncredited Hollywood artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

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p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> <\/p>\n

A dull yellow light peeks through a brooding sky looming over rolling Southern California hills. The oil painting \u201cApproaching Storm\u201d captures the kind of picturesque scene that would get fine artist Paul Grimm work in early Hollywood. Known for his plein air landscapes and masterful depictions of clouds, he turned to studio work to make money during the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

He is one of many artists on display at a new UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art exhibition about set painters whose work would go uncredited or overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t making their living selling their paintings, but they were making their living working for the studios,\u201d said museum director Kathryn Kanjo. \u201cThe artist would lose their individual credit and recognition, to be at the service of what was needed by the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the \u201cStaging California in Early Hollywood\u201d exhibition, hangs an 18-by-25-foot painted backing for \u201cThe Sound of Music\u201d (1965), a project led by the then-art director of 20th Century Pictures\u2019 special effects department, Emil J. Kosa Jr. He\u2019d be the only one to get credit at the time, not the five other contributing artists, including celebrated plein air artist Arthur Grover Rider, who are also noted in the museum description.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, at the studios, they systematized the production design, so that it was fast,\u201d Kanjo said, describing the rigid process as militaristic. \u201cFive artists at a time work day after day to get these things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the museum\u2019s first exhibition since UC Irvine acquired<\/u><\/a> the Orange County Museum of Art last September, building a 9,000-piece collection dating back to the 19th century.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, with about 50 pieces, is the first since Kanjo\u2019s appointment in December. It\u2019s a love letter to the film industry\u2019s anonymous and little-known artists, whose works were vital to movies.<\/p>\n

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The exhibition opens with Paul Grimm\u2019s Untitled, 1974, left, and \u201cApproaching Storm,\u201d 1974, right, which capture the essence of the Southern California landscape.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Take two of the most prolific set artists of the mid-20th century: Warren Newcombe and George Gibson. Newcombe was a Massachusetts-born, well-educated artist who started working on sets as early as 1920. He\u2019d eventually join the MGM art department, where he perfected a visual effect technique called \u201cmatte painting.\u201d For a time, it was simply referred to as the \u201cNewcombe shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibson was also at MGM around the same time. When the studio first hired the Scottish artist, he\u2019d routinely miss shifts to paint plein air in Southern California. He and Newcombe would help craft \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d (1939), but when the credits rolled, both their names were missing.<\/p>\n

Newcombe and Gibson would go on to be recognized and celebrated for their work. About a decade after \u201cThe Wizard of Oz,\u201d Newcombe won two Oscars for special effects, for \u201cThirty Seconds Over Tokyo\u201d (1944) and \u201cGreen Dolphin Street\u201d (1947).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really instrumental in the professionalization of artists at MGM,\u201d assistant curator Micha\u00ebla Mohrmann said of Gibson. \u201cHis insistence on color saturation is something that really informs his work for \u2018The Wizard of Oz,\u2019 and it\u2019s really that movie that cements his reputation as one of the masters of scenic art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, artists like Arthur Beaumont hardly got their due. Raised by a military family in England, the California transplant was particularly captivated by naval vessels. By 1933, he had painted maritime art for most of the U.S. Naval fleet. As a result of his work, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and recognized as its fleet\u2019s official artist.<\/p>\n

He also began producing promotional materials and storyboards for Paramount Studios\u2019 naval films as early as 1935, first for a movie titled \u201cMutiny on the Bounty.\u201d In 1942, he would do the same for \u201cWake Island\u201d in the midst of World War II. His work was later etched into metal plates and used to mass-produce publicity prints.<\/p>\n

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Museum director Kathryn Kanjo stands between Arthur Grover Rider\u2019s \u201cOrtega Highway\u201d (1974), left, and Emil J. Kosa Jr.\u2019s \u201cHow Marvelous Thy Works\u201d (1928).<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cThey were participating [in the military and war] in different functions and not always credited for that kind of work,\u201d Mohrmann said. \u201cI think there was an act of generosity [during wartime] in general \u2014 everyone was really patriotic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition also features a silent film titled \u201cThe Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra,\u201d a 1928 short highlighting the plight of a background actor known as \u201c9413.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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“Staging California in Early Hollywood”<\/p>\n

Where:<\/b> UCI Langson Orange County Museum of Art<\/p>\n

When:<\/b> Friday to Oct. 4, 2026<\/p>\n

Cost:<\/b> Free<\/p>\n

Info:<\/b> langson.uci.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all like him being shoveled around and underappreciated and not even given a name, right?\u201d Kanjo said. \u201cEverybody thought it was funny because it was kind of meta, but it was pointing out real issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond giving credit where credit\u2019s due, the exhibition aims to uplift background art.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack then as well as now, people question the artistic merits of these works because they were made for films that were for profit,\u201d Mohrmann said. \u201cWhen in reality there was a ton of talent and artistry and critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quincy Bowie Jr. contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> A dull yellow light peeks through a brooding sky looming over rolling Southern California hills. The oil painting \u201cApproaching Storm\u201d captures the kind of picturesque scene that would get fine artist Paul Grimm work in early Hollywood. Known for his plein air landscapes and masterful depictions of clouds, he turned to studio work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2477199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2477198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Orange-County-Museum-of-Art-highlights-uncredited-Hollywood-artists.com2Fd32F882F9c00a2d44f0faa7db561d6bd.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2477198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477200,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477198\/revisions\/2477200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2477199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2477198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2477198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2477198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}