Mark and Jan Hilbert of the Hilbert Collection Donate Rex Brandt Watercolor to Laguna College of Art and Design Permanent Collection

Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) announced that Mark and Janet Hilbert of The Hilbert Collection donated "Evening Rendezvous" (Watercolor on Paper, 10 x 14 inches, 1960) by acclaimed California watercolorist Rex Brandt. The iconic watercolor will be part of the college's permanent collection, which also includes The Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Archives housed in the Dennis and Leslie Power Library on the college's Main Campus.

LCAD will install "Evening Rendezvous" in the administrative building on Main Campus at 2222 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach, CA 92651.

"Rex Brandt is a seminal figure in our college's history and we are honored by Mark and Janet's gift of this beautiful painting," said President Jonathan Burke. "Our permanent collection of fine art instructs and inspires our students and arts scholars to celebrate the accomplishments of master painters and sculptors."

"Evening Rendezvous" was also one of 12 pieces from the The Hilbert Collection that was part of LCAD's summer exhibition celebrating Brandt's centennial birthday.

Mark Hilbert recalled meeting Rex Brandt by chance at the dentist's office over 30 years ago. When he approached the painter, he was invited to visit Brandt's home to see his studio.

"With Hollywood demands for production designers, painters and illustrators from the 1930's to 1950's, there were more working artists in Los Angeles, California than anywhere else in the world at one time," Hilbert said. "Rex was one of the great ones among the California artists of that period. Although he trained more than 5,000 students over a 40-year period, he continued to push himself artistically and his later works are just as strong as his earlier watercolors. He has left a great body of work."

Hilbert was drawn to Brandt's work because of his mastery of pigmentation and light. "Few watercolor artists can manipulate colors the way he did," Hilbert said. "He was also a very rare watercolorist in that he was always willing to take risks with his work."

In 1962, Brandt was involved in designing the first two college art studios for what was then Laguna Beach School of Art (today known as Laguna College of Art and Design). With fellow painter Phil Dike, Brandt taught a workshop for the school and in 1978, he served on the school's Advisory Board and its Endowment Fund campaign. Brandt served as head of faculty for the school's summer class curriculum in 1963.

Joan Scarboro and Shelley Walker, daughters of Rex Brandt and his wife, Joan Irving Brandt, donated the Rex and Joan Irving Brandt Archives to LCAD in 2011.

Presently, selections from LCAD's The Brandt Archives are on loan to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California exhibition, "From the Archives Reaching for Water: Rex Brandt and Metropolitan." The exhibition will be on display in the South Gallery public space next to the building's lobby entrance for the next two years at Metropolitan Water District headquarters, 700 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012-2944.

Brandt was a beloved resident of Corona del Mar, CA where he and his wife taught classes at their home and studio, which they named, "Blue Sky." His design for the city seal of Newport Beach is still in use today.

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