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Louisbassiremin00siegrich.Pdf C-D 4-00! BANCROFT LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Louis Ba s s i S i egr i es t Remi n i scences A tape recorded interview with Louis Siegriest and his son Lundy S i egr i es t . March 4, 1954 No part of this manuscript may be quoted for publication except by written permission of the Librarian of the University of California at Berkeley. INTRODUCTION What the final word will be on the paintings of Louis and Lundy Siegriest is not for us to say. Our aim was to get with the aid of that silent partner, the tape re- . '-.riYa corder an artists 1 story of his own life In his own words. We chose Louis Siegriest and his son because their roots go back deep into the history of this region; the third protagonist of this tale Is, then, the environment in which the artists II ved. The broader program of which this interview Is a part was begun experimentally in August, 1953 under the general direction of Robert E. Burke, head of Bancroft Library's Manuscript Division. We have sought, with the help of our tape-recorder, to capture the memories of politicians, business men, labor leaders, lawyers, poets, artists all of North ern California focussing around the San Francisco Bay Area. Their composite story should give us a vivid insight into fifty years or more of "living history". The Siegriests were hospitable, candid, and completely cooperative. "Laid up" in bed after the initial interview, Lou I s e I abora t ed in manuscript upon his exoeriences with the Society of Six. This excerpt has a life and color all ' its own, and we have kept it intact and appended It hereto. Paul Mills, director of the Oakland Art Museum, contributed generously to our endeavor. Bancroft Library 3 March, 1954 Corinne L. Glib HOITOUCOlT. zh.ioj to crni"inif,c sHI no so I!: i . 2 ftw m 6 1 UU | r. ; i i -si 30 6 1 srii . niiep Insli ! zbiow nwo e i ri n i s T i I r c- r i M ' ?. i i i : i oo D 3 d n o z ; . ' b I rl i i T 2 i j n o g s rio i r!w n i t n3;;inon : . ' '. i i i sq ? i r I i . v t 2 ' f a \ D T D n 9 ri . "iuo i . t npioii zt [ , . oli---.-'-f?ifi6,! ., ; ' 6 S 1 A Y S 3 i r n r . 3 rl t b n . ' i o n i t rf :, i a a i b 1 v i . 6 u . v e , " . Y 'i o i a i fi r- n c h i 3 f : ;4s!arneo t bn 63 t df,i w 9 i v T s i n i ! i T i r> i -j H I T "} t i t 3 i n . _-> ' . HfiwjSDnsi ; . -^z<jnt!" ni bo rl: oJ ! x lift loloD bne. , icito 3 e i HT . ' i : .ois T3/i t j , :,/<-. 3J ;nr . 2 ; ' : iA i &0 10 io : , : -i>- ; yi j i Ic-i-.-icS . J snn i -; . SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE November 9, 1989 1 Louis Bassi Siegriest Louis Bassi Siegriest, dean of Northern California painters whose arfistic career spanned 60 years, died at a Berkeley convalescent hos pital Tuesday at the age of 90. His works are currently being shown at the M. H. de Young Memo rial Museum in Golden Gate Park, in an exhibition of six California colorists, which is to run through December 31. Mr. Siegriest was featured in a book published last year, "The Soci ety of Six: California Colorists," by Nancy Boas, which led to the cur rent exhibition. He was the last survivor of six modernist painters who worked in Northern California in the 1920s. In 1979, Chronicle critic Thomas Al bright called Mr. Siegriest "perhaps the greatest of contemporary land scape painters." A stroke in 1974 curtailed his painting, but he continued until his eyes failed him in the mid-1980s. Except for a brief period, Mr. Siegriest lived in the house he was born in in Oakland, where he was surrounded by young artists who admired his craftsmanship, his sense of humor and his gift for sto rytelling. At his request, there will be no services. Burial will be in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Memorial contributions are preferred to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley or to the Louis and Lundy Siegriest Scholarship Fund, named for himself and his late son, Califor nia College of Arts and Crafts Alum ni, 5212 Broadway, Oakland 94618. TABLE OF CONTENTS I . I n t g r v i e w .................. ...*l -63 Fam! ly Background.*.. I Ed ucation... ............ ..........6 As a Young Impressionist; The Society of Six M As a Commercial Artist ......25 Other Employment: Art Teacher; Camoufleur; With the USO; More Commercial Art 34 Virginia City 42 Lundy Siegriest. .48 Public Controversy, 1952 52 Exhibiting; Current Techniques of Painting 57 I I. Vital Statistics 64-73 Louis Bassi Siegriest ...64 Exhibitions. 64 Awards and Prizes.. 67 Juries... 67 Art Activities 68 Lundy Siegriest.. ......69 Exhibitions 69 One Man Shows 72 Awards 72 III. Louis Siegriests 1 Story 74-94 6- ; i i noi 9fT. : , . T i; si'. { K- 2 ^c : : i r i v .......,>:. \ >Q-i-'." ' INTERVIEW Glib: This Is December 22, 1953, and we are in a studio in the basement of 5203 Miles Avenue, Oakland, California the home of Lundy Siegriest. Lundy is the son of Louis Bassi Siegriest, the subject of this Interview. The studio is an attractive place with wide windows and paintings all about the walls. We came in through the back garden and past a furnace, I believe, and a washing machine and a lithograph press, into this pleasant place. We're seated about a long table, we being Mr. Siegriest, himself, a gentleman in his middle 50's with a mustache, bright blue eyes and a somewhat wea therbea ten face; and his son, Lundy, a young man of 28; and Mr. Paul Mills, who has recently become Director of the Oakland Art Gallery, a new young man in Bay Area art. I am Corinne GMb, who is doing this interview for the University of California Library. FAMILY BACKGROUND Let's start, Mr. Siegriest, by discussing your family background -- what were the ni 16 w bne ,5Qf ,32 T9dm:Cl 2! e MT zsliM 022 >o tnsmsz&d rli ni oibutz smort srii -- 6tmo>i!eO ,br } o n o 2 H4 tl ybnuJ .izsiif zidi lo iD:>(due sHi ,izsiiesi oJ sviiDfiTiie nt> z I oibuiz srlT . lie <^n!in'i&q bns zwobniw biw i 3D: srit ripuoidi ni >m63 s\v .all** s t vsild I ,93&mu> f. ri< fcTQorii U t> bfle >n i ' . f 3 1 V & I Q f 6 Z 6 3 i . iV, gnisd sw t sld6l r;ns Iin9g & t >l5. I d iH : . 3rio6i zurn 6 rl t iw jsoel >diHi6vf i&riw>n / ".rr. fi *.~-z ?' j8T gntjov -nuJ , : or! . eerl t ai| bnt i T" tnfeNftO 3r!i 1o nc, ; . i T r> 63TA ytii nl flfcn :> n Tsini zidi pniob zi orfw diJ 6tnio^ilbD ^o vtizTsvi. ' a ozibvd,. .TWjtT&iez'tsJ 919W leriw -- br 3ed ylifiel- n names of your parents? Louis Siegriest: My mother's name was Emilia Ba s s I . She was born in San Francisco, from Italian descent. Her father was GuiseppI Bass!, and her mother's name was Maria Bassi. I don't know the year when they came here. It was 1850-somethl ng. They came to San Francisco and were married in San Fran cisco, and then went to Virginia City. Gilb: Your parents, you mean? how I became fond Louis S. : My grandparents. That's of Virginia City, through hearing them talk about it not my grandparents, but my mother and father, because they died a year before I was born, but the family used to talk about Virginia City. So I always made my way to Virginia City to sketch and paint in that territory. Gilb: What was it that drew them to Virginia City; were they in mining? the other Louis S. : Well, it was like all people at that time; it was the gold, I guess. My grandfather was an amalgamater, what It ever that is, I really don't know. had something to do with the processing of gold. And they lived -- actually they didn't live in Virginia City. They lived ? sri . i ;:--. 6Him3 zew snen I'Ts.Hiom yM :iz3iTgsi z no i . .. n i mod i fcv/ i , 2 3 efl z 6w Tsriis^ isH .insozsb 1 z z fcf 6 i ; i; a'TsHloi" -\3s\ b< .^^^f^ smeo v/ nesy 3fii nob ne oi 3m6D YriT .gnJHi:; -nci-i ntc ni bsl-nsn sisw bno o: .yilD einlgilV oi tnsw n5Ht . o ?063f . 1UOY ' bno"t I wort z I &riT msfii i c gnineH HQuoidi f v'H~ V >o i -- tud t zl ns tqbnfcTg ym fon tl hu r 6 bsib vsiit sent Did ,nsr!i . .. ylinibr srfl iud t mod z 6w I sno>3 ay 1 o . y i i C t i n i i i V f u c i r; -f of oiYii^6inifTiVoiv6WY r iTisi if, rii ni ini6c ->^z oi n3fii woib i 6 r! i . &HV. ; >w riio 3ri MB 3Jii z r w t i I \ , >W ' H i i e i' "! ! i , , i el- 'on tig yM : i ! T I i .won^ , e i e-rii T3V9 1 I .
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