California Fine Art Exhibition - Day 1

Over a hundred years ago, the Hillside Club hosted a series of fine art exhibitions featuring paintings by some of California’s most notable contemporary artists. This year, during the weekend of June 20-21, the club will mount its first fine art exhibition in many years, featuring some of the same painters who displayed their works in the club during the 1910s, as well as images of Berkeley itself as portrayed by artists of the time.

The weekend event will include a series of lectures by knowledgeable local figures discussing aspects of the art on display.

On Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 1:30 p.m., cultural historian Nicholas Friend will speak about the European tradition of landscape painting, and how a group of Bay Area artists brought their own themes, subjects, and techniques to those Old World roots.

Later that afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., independent scholar Ann Harlow will discuss, with slides, notable women artists active in Berkeley between 1900 and 1920, including Laura Adams Armer, Anne Brigman, Louise Keeler, Florence Lundborg, Isabelle Percy (West), and Jennie Vennerstrom Cannon, who called Berkeley the “art capital of the West” upon arriving here in 1907.

On Sunday, June 21, 2026 at 1:30 p.m., community historian Steven Finacom explores the types and varieties of fine art available for purchase in and around Berkeley in the early decades of the 20th century, and those likely to have been customarily displayed in early Hillside homes.

During the weekend, the Club will have on display a wide array of original artworks, primarily by early 20th century California and Bay Area artists, many of them depicting local scenes and people. Some of these works hung in Berkeley hillside homes a century and more ago. The exhibit provides the attendees the opportunity to see examples of the art the speakers will more broadly discuss.

The exhibition will be mounted in the Club House’s main hall from 10-5 during this special weekend.