Grace Hudson Museum

Water, Land and Sky: Rediscovering Albert Thomas DeRome

November 20, 2004 through January 23, 2005

Pines at Sunset, Evening Pines, Asilomar, 1954, oil on board, 18 x 24 inches, The Plant Collection.

Pines at Sunset, Evening Pines, Asilomar, 1954
oil on board, 18 x 24 inches, The Plant Collection.

Once almost lost from view, Albert DeRome’s luminous watercolor and oil landscapes are showcased in a new exhibition at the Grace Hudson Museum. “Water, Land and Sky: Rediscovering Albert Thomas DeRome,” opens November 20, 2004 and runs through January 23, 2005. Organized and circulated by the Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California, the exhibition features more than ninety of DeRome’s impressionistic paintings of the mountains, rolling hills, valleys, waterways, and coastline of Northern California.

Point Lobos, circa 1949, oil on board, 18 x 24 inches. Collection of Jack Gilbert.
Point Lobos, circa 1949
oil on board, 18 x 24 inches.
Collection of Jack Gilbert.
Dune, circa 1933 – 1959, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches. Collection of Jack Gilbert.
Dune, circa 1933 – 1959
oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches.
Collection of Jack Gilbert.

DeRome was born in San Luis Obispo County in 1885 and studied art in San Francisco, at the same art school attended by Grace Carpenter Hudson some two decades earlier. His jewel like, intimate paintings became well respected by other contemporary California Impressionist painters. However, following a serious car accident in 1931, DeRome’s insurance settlement prohibited him from selling his work or exhibiting it as a professional artist for the remainder of his life. The irony is it also gave him the financial freedom to pursue his painting full time. DeRome spent his later years on the Monterey Peninsula, and gave his work away to family and friends, dying in 1959. Most of the works in this exhibition have been loaned by descendants and have never before been exhibited.

On Quito Road Near Los Gatos, 1954
oil on board, 18 x 24 inches.
Collection of Jack Gilbert.

Spring Flowers Near Asilomar, 1958
oil on board, 18 x 24 inches.
Collection of the Hearst Art Gallery,
Saint Mary’s College of California.

Squatters’ Shanties, Belmont Marsh, 1950
oil on board, 16 x 19 inches.
Collection of Lavinia Gilbert Schwartz.

A slide lecture and reception Sunday, November 21, from 2 – 4 p.m. mark the opening of this special exhibit. Deborah Gilbert, great grand niece of Albert DeRome’s wife, artist Martha Sale, will talk about A. T. DeRome: A Philosophy of Method, at 2 p.m. Ms Gilbert writes on California literature and culture and also teaches American Studies at San Jose State University. A reception will follow the lecture. Both events are free.

Mouth of the Carmel River, Artichoke Fields, 1955
oil on board.
Collection of Jack Gilbert.

Carmel Mission, Point Lobos in Distance, 1933
oil on board.
Collection of Dianne Gilbert.

Moonlight, Monterey Fishing Boats, 1937
oil on canvas, 6 x 8 inches.
Collection of Cres Gilbert and Natalie Thiele.