di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art maintains a permanent collection of works by Northern California artists that was originally collected by Rene di Rosa (1919-2010) and Veronica di Rosa (1934–1991). The collection contains notable works by artists living or working in the San Francisco Bay Area from mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first century, highlighting a story of experimentation of the artists of the region. It is displayed in part, on a rotating basis, in the galleries at di Rosa.
This page represents a just a portion of di Rosa’s rich permanent collection. Stay tuned as we continue to populate this page with artworks from our collection.
di Rosa strives to be a resource for educators, students and lifelong learners. For research inquiries, please contact curatorial@dirosaart.org.
Boat House
Painting
Ochre, gray, and purple boat house nestled between clumps of greenery; in plain wood frame
485
Oil on masonite
Painting
AR485
Charles Campbell Gallery
Purchase
Gordon Cook
1983
Signature
Recto, lower left
G. Cook
Title
Verso
Boat House
Framed Dimensions
11-1/2 in
11-1/2 in
Object
8-1/4 in
8-1/8 in
Local Color
Page 78-79
Building A Different Model: Selections from the di Rosa Collection
March 9 - December 29, 2019, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa
Curator
2019
Known for his lush and precise still-life paintings of the 1970s and 1980s, Gordon Cook first gained notoriety for his generous and intricate prints depicting the Northern California landscape. Shortly after marrying Joan Brown in 1968, he moved with her to Snug Harbor in the Sacramento Delta. As it did for Brown (see her Chinese Statues Guarding a Delta Landscape [1969]), the area worked on him—he painted this view of a Delta boat house at least twice. The scale and texture of the painting turns a traditional subject—a landscape—into a kind of still life, with each element seemingly solid and in its proper place.