Jean Stern

A recognized authority on California Impressionism, Art Historian Jean Stern has extensive experience in the field as an author, curator, lecturer, and teacher. He has been the executive director of the Irvine Museum since its inception in January, 1993, and has established a national presence for the Irvine Museum in the fields of California Art and History through a noteworthy international series of books, exhibitions, lectures, articles and video documentaries. Mr. Stern is the author of numerous books and articles on California Impressionism, including monographs on important artists such Franz A. Bischoff, Alson S. Clark, Sam Hyde Harris and Elsie Palmer Payne. In 2001, he and Joan Irvine Smith researched and co-authored CALIFORNIA, THIS GOLDEN LAND of PROMISE, published by Chapman University Press and the Irvine Museum. He has written essays for numerous books and museum exhibition catalogues. In addition, he has been a contributor to several books on California art including all three PLEIN AIR PAINTERS of CALIFORNIA series of books; GUY ROSE: American Impressionist; ENCHANTED ISLE: A History of Painting on Santa Catalina Island; and FRANZ A. BISCHOFF: The Life and Art of an American Master (2010). His latest book, CALIFORNIA LIGHT: One Hundred Years of the California Art Club (co-authored with Molly Siple) was published in 2011. Mr. Stern has presented tours and lectures on California Art at the International Cultural Center, Krakow, Poland; the Mona Bismarck Foundation in Paris, France; the National Academy Museum in New York; Terra Museum in Chicago; Oakland Museum; Los Angeles County Art Museum; the Mission San Juan Capistrano; the San Diego Museum; the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Gibbes Museum in Charleston; Brigham Young University Museum; the Autry National Western Heritage Center; The Nature Conservancy of California; the California Art Club; the Bohemian Club in San Francisco; and many others. He was a consultant to and appears in IMPRESSIONS OF CALIFORNIA, a PBS documentary video series on art in California, and on PLEIN AIR: PAINTING THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE, a 2007 PBS video series. Since 1993, the Irvine Museum with Jean Stern as director, has produced a number of traveling exhibitions, including SELECTIONS FROM THE IRVINE MUSEUM (1993 and 20010); REFLECTIONS OF CALIFORNIA (1994); ROMANCE OF THE BELLS, The California Missions in Art (1995); GUY ROSE, AMERICAN IMPRESSIONIST (1995-1996, a joint project with the Oakland Museum); CALIFORNIA IMPRESSIONISTS (1996, an official event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games Cultural Olympiad); IMPRESSIONS OF CALIFORNIA (1996), accompanied by a PBS documentary series; ALL THINGS BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL (1998), an exhibition tour that included New York and Chicago; CALIFORNIA: THIS GOLDEN LAND of PROMISE (2001); and MASTERS OF LIGHT (2002) the first international traveling exhibition of California Impressionist paintings, shown in Paris, France, Krakow, Poland, and Madrid, Spain.