E. Charlton Fortune: The Colorful Spirit

California artist E. Charlton Fortune (1885–1969) came of age during a time when women began to challenge the status quo and redefine their expected roles in society. E. Charlton Fortune: The Colorful Spirit, will be on view at the Monterey Museum of Art (MMA) May 25, 2018–August 27, 2018, and showcases the work of this trailblazing female and one of California’s most significant artists. Fortune had a thriving career as a painter until the age of forty-three when she began a pioneering new vocation as a liturgical artist and as the leader of the Monterey Guild. The exhibition pairs the artist’s impressionist and modernist landscapes with her ecclesiastical paintings, furnishings, and other work produced for the Catholic Church.

E. Charlton Fortune: The Colorful Spirit is organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art and curated by Scott A. Shields, Ph.D., California art scholar and Crocker Art Museum’s Associate Director and Chief Curator. A 236-page, fully illustrated catalogue featuring scholarly essays by Shields and by Julianne Burton-Carvajal, Ph.D., accompanies the exhibition. Following its debut at the PMCA, the exhibition will travel to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento from January 28–April 22, 2018, and the Monterey Museum of Art from May 25–August 27, 2018.

The exhibition is supported by the PMCA Board of Directors, PMCA Ambassador Circle, and the California Visionary Fund. California art patrons Yvonne Boseker, Simon Chiu, Kelvin Davis, Marie and Murray Demo, John and Patricia Dilks, Jeff Dutra, William C. Georges, Stephen MacFarlane, and Thomas B. Stiles, II and Barbara Alexander underwrite the exhibition. Generous grants from the Historical Collections Council of California Art and the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation along with corporate sponsorship from Bonhams Auctioneers, Heritage Auctions, John Moran Auctioneers, Josh Hardy Galleries, and Paula and Terry Trotter, Trotter Galleries provide invaluable support. Monterey Museum of Art presentation is sponsored by Sandra and Ned Dewey, Susan DuCouer, Judith and Frank Marshall, and the Old Monterey Foundation.