The first cohesive survey of this remarkable period in the oeuvre of Millard Owen Sheets, this exhibition features a cross section of eighty outstanding oils, watercolors, drawings and lithographs, a number of which have not been publicly displayed since the 1930s. Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944) illustrates how Sheet’s personal style captures Southern California’s rise to prominence through the lens of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression; as well as his powerful influence on many of the other important artists of the time.  The featured works are from the years before the end of WWII, during which Regionalist Art and American Scene Painting was in its heyday and Sheets, the West Coast leader of the movement, was arguably at his creative zenith as a painter. The exhibition features seminal works from the golden age that established Millard Sheets alongside the other premier American artists of the era, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and Edward Hopper.

This exhibition is organized by the Pasadena Museum of California Art and curated by Gordon McClelland.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by Faith and Jeff Butler, Simon Chiu, Diane Dixon Crain and E. Gene Crain, Diane and Alex Dodds, Brenda and Bill Galloway, Susan and Whitney Ganz, Pam and Glen Knowles, Andreas Kypriandes, Sally and David Martin, Kathy and Lloyd Ruland, Susan Sheets, Barbara Alexander and Tom Stiles Fund, Bernard Vandeuren, Anderson Art Gallery, Bonhams & Butterfields, Claremont Fine Arts, DeRu’s Fine Art, George Stern Fine Arts, Josh Hardy Galleries, The Historical Collections Council of California, John Moran Auctioneers, Katherine Norris Fine Art, Minasian & Associates, The Redfern Gallery, and Anonymous.