Monterey Art History 101

1836 | The first legal reference to the adobe house that would later become La Mirada, names the owner as the widow of soldier Jose Antonio Castro.

Sept. 9, 1850 California admitted to Union of the United States of America; part of state constitution drafted at Castro Adobe.

1875-1930s | Various people, including French painter Jules Tavernier, Charles Rollo Peters, Frank Devendorf and Frank Powers, begin a loose society of artists referred to as the Monterey Peninsula Art Colony.

1885 | Monterey’s first art gallery, The Art Emporium, is established by Joseph Oliver.

April 18, 1906 | The “Great” San Francisco earthquake displaces many Bay Area artists, who relocate to Carmel and Monterey.

1907 | Hotel Del Monte opens a gallery to absorb artists leaving Bay Area; it becomes an epicenter of California art and international patronage.

May 11, 1909 | American Federation of Arts is founded.

1919 | Castro Adobe sold to writer Gouverneur Morris, who would expand it, and throw parties attended by Charlie Chaplin, Sinclair Lewis and Rudolph Valentino.

1920s | Artists from the U.S. East Coast and Europe filter into the Monterey Peninsula.

1929 | Freeman Mortuary opens on Pacific Street in Monterey, built by Columbus J. Ryland. It later becomes permanent home of the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art.

1936 | At the height of the Depression, Morris’ Castro Adobe is sold on the steps of Colton Hall to the First National Bank of Monterey.

1948 | Frank Work buys the Castro Adobe, now referred to as the Castro-Work Adobe.

April 1959 | The Monterey Peninsula chapter of the AFA, a precursor to the Monterey Museum of Art, is founded.

July 20, 1961 | Inaugural Artists’ Studios Tour launches.

December 1961 | Membership in Monterey Peninsula chapter of the AFA swells from 17 to 200 in two years; the group secures its first property in Carmel.

1963 | Monterey Peninsula chapter of AFA incorporates as nonprofit.

1966 | AFA Monterey Peninsula chapter becomes Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art.

October 1969 | MPMA moves from Carmel building, into permanent home at 559 Pacific St., Monterey.

1970 | Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art opens to the public.

1973 | Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art streamlines name to The Monterey Museum of Art.

1976 | MMA earns accreditation by American Association of Museums.

May 1979 | City of Monterey conveys Pacific St. property to Monterey Museum of Art; membership grows to 1,700.

1983 | Castro-Work Adobe is deeded by Frank Work to the Monterey Museum of Art, which gives it a new name – La Mirada.

1983-1988 | MMA remodels and expands its Pacific Street property.

1991 | Major gift of Armin Hansen works from Jane and Justin Dart precipitates expansion of La Mirada.

1991-93 | La Mirada expands in the form of the Jane and Justin Dart wing, designed by Charles Moore. It re-opens to the public May 22, 1993.

May 2005 | E. Michael Whittington comes from the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, N.C., to serve as executive director of the Monterey Museum of Art.

January 2006 | Marcelle Polednik comes from the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City to serve as chief curator at the Monterey Museum of Art.

2008-2009 | MMA enters the year with operating budget of $2.3 million and 14,000 objects in its collection.

Sources: The Story of La Mirada, E. Michael Whittington, Coasting, Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Carmel Pine Cone, Monterey Peninsula Herald, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art fact sheet, MMA At a Glance, The Carmel Monterey Peninsula Art Colony: A History, by Barbara J. Klein, www.afaweb.org, Marcelle Polednik.