Bay Area Breakfast Group Exhibition at Richmond Art Center Showcases 50-Year Artistic Dialogue
From March 22 to May 30, 2014, the Richmond Art Center in Richmond, California, showcases "The Breakfast Group: Jive and Java," featuring thirty-one artists from the Breakfast Group, a collective rooted in Berkeley that began with lunches organized by Elmer Bischoff in the 1960s. The collective transitioned to 7 am breakfasts, including notable artists such as Erle Loran and William Theophilus Brown. Previous exhibitions took place at Holy Names College in 1991 and Weigand Gallery in 1987. This exhibition commemorates the group's evolution and honors late members like Bischoff and Loran. Despite rising rents and demographic shifts, weekly breakfasts persist, complemented by potluck gatherings and artist discussions, highlighting the fusion of figuration and abstraction in Bay Area art.
Key facts
- Exhibition runs March 22 to May 30, 2014 at Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond, California
- Features 31 artists from the Breakfast Group, a Berkeley-based artists' affiliation with over 50 years of history
- Group originated from Friday lunches painter Elmer Bischoff arranged with Sid Gordin in the 1960s, evolving into 7 am breakfast meetings
- Key ancestral figures include David Park, Elmer Bischoff, and Richard Diebenkorn of the Bay Area movement
- Previous group exhibitions held at Weigand Gallery in Belmont (1987) and Holy Names College in Oakland (1991)
- Group currently split between members preferring Cafe Leila and those faithful to the Vault hangout
- Includes works by Jerry Carlin, who died shortly before the exhibition, with oil transcriptions of family photographs
- Celebration includes weekly spotlights, potluck breakfasts, artist talks, and workshops through May
Entities
Artists
- David Park
- Elmer Bischoff
- Richard Diebenkorn
- Sid Gordin
- William Theophilus Brown
- Erle Loran
- Hassel Smith
- Jerry Carlin
- Jess
- Terry St. John
- Lin Fischer
- Donna Fenstermaker
- Hans Hofmann
- Tom Schultz
- Arthur Monroe
- Katie Hawkinson
- Patricia Bengston-Jones
- Joe Slusky
- Stan Huncilman
- Kati Casida
- Marvin Lipovsky
- Sandy Walker
- Foad Satterfield
- Paul Georges
- Nancy Genn
- Edythe Bresnahan
- Carol Ladewig
- Carl Worth
- Jeanette Bokhour
- P.G. Meier
- Kim Thoman
- John Friedman
- Anthony Holdsworth
- Rackstraw Downes
- Byron Spicer
- Genn Toffey
- Loren Rehbock
- Bruce Chaban
- Frank Stella
- Guillermo Pulido
- Jan Wurm
- Robert Simons
- George Herriman
- Barbara Hazard
- Clement Greenberg
- Willem de Kooning
- Franz Kline
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Institutions
- Richmond Art Center
- Weigand Gallery
- Holy Names College
- Studio School
- Cafe Leila
- The Vault
- University of California, Berkeley
Locations
- Richmond
- California
- United States
- Berkeley
- Belmont
- Oakland
- New York
- Europe
- Paris
- France
- Thailand
- Nevada
- Louisiana
- Switzerland