The Huntington Library

Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Library

The Huntington, in partnership with The Gamble House, USC, presents the most comprehensive exhibition ever undertaken on the work of Arts and Crafts legends Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene — the first such exhibition to travel outside of California.

“A ‘New and Native’ Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene” will be on view from Oct. 18 through Jan. 26, 2009, in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. It then travels to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. (March 13– June 7, 2009), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (July 14–Oct. 18, 2009).

Bamboo lines the path to the Meditation Gardens in the Japanese section of the Huntington.

The Gamble House, Pasadena California

The impetus for this special exhibition is the centennial of the Gamble House, a National Historic Landmark in Pasadena and the only one of the Greenes’ works open to the public. The house is also unique in that it retains all of its original furnishings and fixtures designed by the architects. When the Gamble House opened to the public in 1966 (a gift from the family to the city of Pasadena in a joint agreement with USC’s School of Architecture), Charles and Henry’s work had largely been forgotten. But 1966 provided a pivotal moment for their legacy with the passing of the National Historic Preservation Act. Before then, a number of Greene & Greene buildings had been demolished. The act began to bear fruit in the 1970s as communities increasingly began to protect their architectural heritage.
http://www.huntington.org/Information/HEHGeneral.html

The other day we enjoyed a lovely afternoon visit to the Huntington Library and Gardens. If you are able to tour the Greene and Greene exhibition which ends Jan. 26th you will be rewarded with a wonderful look at the incredible works of these two richly talented architect/craftsmen.
http://www.huntington.org/Information/greene.htm