CALIFORNIA MISSION PAINTINGS ON DISPLAY THROUGH SEPT. 4.

Byline: Daily News

LANCASTER - Prominent 19th and early 20th century artists' paintings and etchings of California missions are on display at the Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery.

The traveling exhibition of 59 works is from the permanent collection of the Irvine Museum, whose founder, Joan Irvine Smith, wanted to document the missions' role in California history.

The exhibit titled ``The Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art'' opens today and will be shown through Sept. 4.

Many of the works on display were by artists known for ``plein air'' landscapes - painted outdoors at the scene. Most were created in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, when the missions were falling into disrepair.

Twenty-one California missions and a number of branch missions were founded between 1769 and 1823.

Mission artwork by local artists Debra Schneider Henning, Ramon Ramirez and Randy Barnicki will also be shown.

Barnicki and Ramirez have been working for more than four months on a 4-by-8-foot historical reconstruction of Mission San Fernando. The show will also provide information on history of the missions and on American Indians of the Antelope Valley.

Works will be featured by Charles Percy Austin (1883-1942), Franz Bischoff (1864-1929), Elizabeth Borglum (1848-1922), George Brandriff (1890-1936), Benjamin Brown (1865-1942), Norman Stiles Chamberlain (1887-1961), Alson Clark (1876-1949), Edwin Deakin (1838-1923), Fannie E. Duvall (1861-1934), Henry Chapman Ford (1828-1894), Arthur Hill Gilbert (1894-1970), Paul Grimm (1892-1974), Alexander Harmer (1856-1925), Charles H. Harmon (1859-1936), William Lees Judson (1842-1928), Ferdinand Kaufman (1864-1942), Joseph Keitsch (1881-1931), Sydney Laurence (1865-1940), Hardesty G. Maratta (1864-1924), Albert Marshall (1891-1970), Julie Morrow (1882-1978), Charles Rollo Peters (1862-1928), Arthur G. Rider (1886-1975), Charles Rogers (1848-1918), Will Sparks (1862-1927), Channel P. Townsley (1867-1921), Elmer Wachtel (1864-1929), William Wendt (1865-1946), Edith White (1855-1946), and Theodore Wores (1859-1939).

The gallery is at 44801 Sierra Highway. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) An art show displaying paintings of California missions will open today at the Lancaster Museum/Art Gallery. Museum aides, from left, Jerilyn Leyba, Jessica Hodgdon and Larissa Nickel, get a preview.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer