Claremont Modern - The Convergence of Art and Architecture at Midcentury

The 90 minute documentary film Claremont Modern: The Convergence of Art + Architecture at Midcentury, is a companion piece to "Design for Modern Living: Millard Sheets and the Claremont Art Community 1935 - 1975", produced in 2014 by filmmaker Paul Bockhorst in partnership with the Claremont Museum of Art.
Claremont Modern expands the scholarship of the intersection of Art + Architecture at Midcentury, and examines the regional influences that helped to establish a unique chapter in the annals of Modernism.
Claremont Modern is produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Bockhorst, in cooperation with Claremont Heritage. A veteran writer, producer, and director, Bockhorst has produced dozens of programs that have appeared on PBS, NBC, ABC, Turner Broadcasting, and the Disney Channel. He recently received an Honorary AIA Award for his many documentaries on art and architecture. The film is narrated by Richard Doyle.
Principal funding for Claremont Modern was generously provided by Howard & Roberta Ahmanson, The Ahmanson Foundation, Andy and Blenda Wright, the Windgate Charitable Foundation, Carolyn & Tom Owen-Towle, Brent R. Harris and Lisa Meulbroek Harris. Additional funding provided by Geoff Hamill, Paul Steffen, Tony & Flower Sheets, Margaret Russell, and Merika Adams Gopaul.
Known as the “City of tree’s and PhD’s”, Claremont California embodies an almost utopian environment that is a wonderful mix of small town atmosphere combined with robust academic and cultural attributes. Claremont Modern documents the intersection of art and architecture in a community that produced an incredible output during the mid-20th century. In fact, Claremont could very well be one of the best-hidden secrets in the annuls of modernism.
A lively arts community since the early 1930’s mainly due to the influence that a young visionary Millard Sheets who was brought in to run a fledgling art department at Scripps College. Inextricably linked were the artists, craftspeople and architects that Sheets brought to teach and who later made Claremont home influencing decades of artists and makers. Sheets brought William Manker to set up the ceramics department. Albert Stewart, a prominent sculptor from New York, taught sculpture. Jean Ames began teaching design. During the war years, Charles Brooks and Whitney Smith taught architecture; after the war, Ted Criley succeeded them.
And the architecture was not far behind. Herman Garner created an artists colony in the Padua Hills, giving property to Albert and Marion (Hoppy) Stewart for their Theodore Criley Jr. designed home and studio. Ceramicist Harrison McIntosh had a home and studio designed by Fred McDowell built next to the Richard Neutra designed Ninneman House. Other artists who lived in Padua include Betty Davenport Ford, Arthur and Jean Ames. Millard Sheets built a home here and later the Pomona First Federal Bank in town. Foster Rhodes Jackson designed several masterpieces in the foothills above Claremont. Painter Karl Benjamin commissioned McDowell to design his home and studio. Buff and Hensman built here, as did Cliff May known for both his Rancho style homes and the early pre-fabs that he and Chris Choate designed. Both styles appear in Claremont.
Modern architecture was not limited to only residential projects. The institutional and commercial output during this period included work by local architects Criley/McDowell who were responsible for hundreds of projects ranging from schools to churches to office buildings. A. Quincy Jones and Edward Durell Stone both designed buildings for the Colleges. John Lautner designed an office building (although it was never built) and Henry’s Diner (demolished) on Foothill Blvd. that was the epitome of modern Drive-in architecture.
The group of artists, designers and craftspeople that came together in this small community, bound together by the built environment, created a modernist mecca that has influenced decades of form givers. This legacy is now being recognized as a pivotal force in the development of the “California Style”, a version of Modernism that is now being documented in major museum exhibitions and publications. Claremont Heritage is proud to acknowledge this history and presents Claremont Modern, a testament to a special period in our community and culture.
David Shearer
Executive Director
Claremont Heritage