Exhibition doubleheader in La Jolla looks to shed light on pair of UCSD visual artists

The names Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson might not be top of mind when many people think of artists, but two new exhibitions at the La Jolla Historical Society and Quint Gallery in La Jolla are looking to change that.

The husband and wife were early faculty members of the UC San Diego visual arts program in the early 1970s. Both were painters, and Farber also wrote film critiques.

“Double Bill: The Art of Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson” will be on view at the Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage gallery from Saturday, Nov. 8, to Sunday, Feb. 1. It will feature paintings, sketches, photographs and excerpts from never-before-seen interviews with Farber and Patterson filmed by their former colleague Rebecca Cohen.

Also opening Nov. 8 is “Manny Farber: An Up Beat Title,” which will be at Quint Gallery through Saturday, Jan. 3. It includes a selection of Farber’s large-scale paintings created between 1985 and his final year of work in 2007 before his death in 2008. It also focuses on the last years of his teaching tenure and a shift toward a looser style and brushwork.

The shows are sister exhibitions run by the Historical Society.

“Double Bill” will explore the couple’s creative partnership, “highlighting how life in Leucadia and their work at UC San Diego shaped their distinct artistic voices,” according to Historical Society Executive Director Lauren Lockhart.

Historical Society historian Carol Olten said Farber’s film writing “set the stage for a whole movement of criticism in the 1960s” and that many prominent critics found inspiration in what he wrote in the 1940s and ’50s.

“He developed a way of criticizing film that reviewed it within the context of when it was made and when it was being viewed, in a way that hadn’t existed before,” Olten said. “He was also a great fan of the ‘B,’ or low-budget, movies and brought attention to that genre. He was very much at the cusp of what was happening in the world of the ’40s and ’50s, and when other critics started to write in the ’60s and view film criticism from a social-political level, Farber was a huge influence. There are numerous ways that the subjects of the films he and Patricia reviewed together are reflected in their approach to painting.”

Lockhart said Patterson’s paintings drew on her experiences on visits to Ireland’s Aran Islands between 1960 and 1989 and captured the quiet moments of individual lives.

“Her imagery elevates a simple domestic space or moment with dignity,” Lockhart said. “Both Manny and Patricia shared an interest in bringing art into everyday life, and they did so in such a way that the viewer can’t help but be pulled into the work.”

Together, Lockhart said, the works “are so full of life, so rich with narrative detail and yet open to each new viewer’s interpretation.”

Additionally, the exhibit will include furniture and domestic items that Patterson, now 84, lent to the show “to create installations that reflect her and Manny’s private residence and studios. The lines between their art practice and everyday lives in their home and garden were indistinguishable, and that, too, is something that will appeal to all visitors,” Lockhart said.

“This gives La Jolla Historical Society another opportunity to play with the history of our space as a residence, and we will be integrating [in Wisteria Cottage] some of Manny and Patricia’s use of color in their home.”

The show also will feature a selection of paintings the two created around the time of their faculty appointments at UCSD, as well as rarely seen sketches and notebooks that provide insight into their creative process.

“Each of them were working to get at the truth of everyday life through their painting and film criticism,” Olten said. “The ways in which they observed and represented everyday objects, from a box of candy to a vase of flowers from the garden to a scene around a kitchen table, is unique and special. Their work is representational, perhaps because of their environment and this coastal setting where they settled. This is something that set them apart from many of their counterparts who were creating highly conceptual artwork at the time.”

The Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage gallery is at 780 Prospect St. Quint Gallery is at 7655 Girard Ave.

For more information, visit lajollahistory.org/current-and-upcoming and quintgallery.com.