Painting by Conrad Woods, 1961 and a planter by Raul Coronel
Conrad Woods (1932-1993) was the son of actor Donald Woods. He studied at UCLA and received his BFA and MFA from the University Illinois, before traveling to Europe and India on a Fulbright Scholarship to study painting and sculpture. Moving to California in 1960, he had gallery representation in Los Angeles and San Diego. While in San Diego, he was included in exhibitions alongside local favorites Richard Allen Morris, Guy Williams, Russell Baldwin, John Baldessari and Bob Matheny. One such exhibition was in 1964 at Southwestern College. Coincidentally, this relates to my last post on Matheny. It's interesting how things show up out in the field like that. I wonder if Matheny and Morris remember Woods?
Speaking of out in the field. The painting came from the same estate as these books. They belonged to an architect who recently passed away at the age of 96. Although he lived in my neighborhood, I had never heard the name Henri Jacot before seeing it written in the books. The house was a typical San Diego Craftsman house and not modern at all. However, on top the modern architecture books, were a number of "Danish Modern" pieces and of course the Woods painting from 1961.
The funny thing is that in 1961, Henri Jacot was leading the charge against the Fine Arts Gallery (now the San Diego Museum of Art) plan to build a new modern west wing.
Luckily the modernists prevailed and in 1966 the design by architects Robert Mosher and Roy Drew was built, complete with fascia and gates by Malcolm Leland.
Photo: Julius Shulman
Jacot also had this big bug.