TREASURES OF THE L.A. UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT; ARTWORKS RECOVERED WITH PATIENCE, LUCK.Byline: Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writer The dramatic ocean landscape by an emerging artist was presented to Marshall High School Marshall High School may refer to:
The stately painting graced the walls of the Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. for many years but ultimately was stashed away and forgotten. It is one of hundreds of valuable gifts and other items collected by the schools in the first half of the century. The treasure trove TREASURE TROVE. Found treasure. 2. This name is given to such money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, which having been hidden or concealed in the earth or other private place, so long that its owner is unknown, has been discovered by accident. includes a first-edition collection of ``The California History Series,'' silver tea services, Grecian vases and more than 300 paintings, including ``Winter in Mountains'' by Paul Lauritz and ``The Red Men'' by Millard Sheets Millard Owen Sheets (1907-1989) was an American painter and an important representative of the California School of Painting. Early life Millard Sheets was a native California artist who grew up in the Pomona Valley near Los Angeles. . If it were auctioned today, the entire collection could fetch millions. But some of the works have disappeared, some were stolen, and still others were destroyed or sold to unscrupulous dealers. Many, including the ocean landscape, simply ended up in dank dank adj. dank·er, dank·est Disagreeably damp or humid. See Synonyms at wet. [Middle English, probably of Scandinavian origin. boiler rooms or moldy moldy animal feed overgrown with fungus; the feed may be harvested and stored or be still in the ground. moldy corn disease see leukoencephalomalacia, fusariummoniliforme. storage areas. And that is how retired school administrator Stone Ishimaru found himself decades later on a nearly forgotten back staircase at Marshall, armed with a flashlight and the instinct of Indiana Jones. Rediscovered gold Entering a musty projection room projection room n (CINE) → cabina de proyección projection room n (Cine) → cabine f de projection projection room , Ishimaru combed through cobwebs cob·web n. 1. a. The web spun by a spider to catch its prey. b. A single thread spun by a spider. 2. Something resembling the web of a spider in gauziness or flimsiness. 3. and discarded furniture until he spotted a canvas in a shadowy corner. With a growing sense of excitement, he seized the dust-covered but very recognizable work of now-famous landscape artist Lauritz, valued at about $75,000. ``It was a treasure hunt, what can I say?,'' said Ishimaru, still relishing the discovery. ``I'd get up in the morning and think: What can I find today?'' In his six-year art expedition through the labyrinth of Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , Ishimaru has unearthed Unearthed is the name of a Triple J project to find and "dig up" (hence the name) hidden talent in regional Australia. Unearthed has had three incarnations - they first visited each region of Australia where Triple J had a transmitter - 41 regions in all. an impressive multimillion-dollar collection. The paintings by California artists are an especially exciting addition for the art world, said Peter Adams, president of the California Art Club The California Art Club (CAC) is a society of artists founded in 1909 to promote the fine arts, specifically painting, drawing, and sculpture, in California. The CAC grew out the Painter's Club of Los Angeles, a small group of artists formed in 1906. . ``These are all terribly important painters - to suddenly rediscover all these works is amazing,'' Adams said. Said Board of Education member George Kiriyama: ``We knew all along that the district had art, but we didn't realize how valuable it was.'' ``This is a tremendous thing for the district. Now this collection will be restored to its proper place,'' Kiriyama said. The artworks could soon find a home in the gallery of the former Otis Art Institute near MacArthur Park, said Brad Sales, district spokesman. The district is expecting to make an offer to buy the building from Los Angeles County in a ``matter of days,'' Sales said. The remaining space at Otis would be used for an elementary school, Sales said. The hunt begins Ishimaru's quest began as a result of a casual conversation in 1989 between then superintendent Bill Anton and another administrator. What had happened, they wondered, to all those student legacy gifts and works of art that decorated the offices and hallways of those old schools? Anton asked if Ishimaru would volunteer to take on the task of finding out. It took some time just to gather inventory lists from all 634 schools in the district. Based on those lists, Ishimaru decided to focus his search on the 71 middle and 49 high schools. Before the hunt began, the superintendent sent out an edict A decree or law of major import promulgated by a king, queen, or other sovereign of a government. An edict can be distinguished from a public proclamation in that an edict puts a new statute into effect whereas a public proclamation is no more than a declaration of a law that no more artworks could be disposed of or sold. In 1990, Ishimaru got to work finding out the fate of the treasure. Many artworks were gone, lost, stolen or given to departing staff members as gifts. ``Some were sold for a few pennies because the principals didn't have any idea what they had,'' Ishimaru said, shaking his head. A priceless loss Art dealers would dangle dangle Nursing A popular term for the first movement a Pt is allowed, either after surgery under general anesthesia, or 'under local', where the recuperee allows his/her feet to dangle over the side of the bed the prospect of money for some need - new basketball jerseys for example - and cash-strapped schools would hand over the paintings, Ishimaru said. Painful even now is Ishimaru's memories of one particular painting that still is missing: a Guy Rose landscape valued at more than $100,000. ``I looked high and low for that. People saw it, custodians saw it - people knew it was very expensive,'' Ishimaru said. What the treasure hunter was able to recover somewhat assuages that disappointment. One of the most astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, finds could be a broadsheet document apparently printed in Nuremberg and dated 1473. The German-language document was found as Washington High School Washington High School may refer to:
``I took one look and thought, holy cow!'' Ishimaru said. David Zeidberg, director of the Huntington Library, said the document would need to be authenticated, but ``depending on the content and how old it is, documents from that time can be worth $20 . . . or tens or hundreds of thousands of thousands of dollars.'' California history Probably the most artistically significant part of Ishimaru's efforts has been bringing together paintings by California artists, many representing the plein air form. These European-trained painters migrated to the warmer climes of California and were based largely in Pasadena. They painted landscapes outdoors instead of in a studio, which allowed the artists to develop new techniques by working directly in the ambience of light and atmosphere, said Adams, whose California Art Club was founded by plein air painter William Wendt in 1909. Other discoveries told the story of a more gracious time in Los Angeles. Many schools had hospitality rooms, where ``PTA PTA or parent-teacher association: see parent education. ladies would serve tea,'' Ishimaru said. Sterling silver tea services they used, tarnished but intact, were found stuffed in the back of cafeteria cabinets, Ishimaru said. Also unearthed were first-edition books and Greek and Roman sculptures used in Latin courses. As he collected, Ishimura learned as he went. He pored over collector catalogs and phoned dealers selling works in the newspaper. This ``volunteer'' assignment soon became a full-time passion. ``The items may be worth millions, but it's an invaluable look into the history of California See History of California to 1899 or History of California 1900 to present. and our schools,'' Ishimaru said. Restoration work has been completed on more than 50 of the paintings. ``Whenever we got hold of some money, we'd grab the worst painting, some were ripped and flaking,'' Ishimaru said. And the district has arranged for more restoration work to be completed by California State University, Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) is a campus of the California State University system. It is located in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. , Kiriyama said. And Ishimaru, a former photographer, has shot the entire collection. He hopes to put the photos, with accompanying text, on the Internet. ``He did an outstanding job,'' Kiriyama said of Ishimaru. ``He brought out to the open things that should never have been hidden away.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color) Stone Ishimaru holds a document printed in German language and dated 1473, considered a remarkable find. (2 -- color) During his six-year search, Stone Ishimaru recovered this Paul Lauritz painting valued at $75,000. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion