Marin resident Kim Eagles-Smith recently moved his gallery to San Rafael. (Photo by Barry Willis)
“April Wetland” by John McCormick. (Courtesy of Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery)
“Leviathan II” by Brooks Anderson. (Courtesy of Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery)
“Point Reyes Barns #5” by Marin artist Jeffrey Long. (Courtesy of Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery)
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Marin resident Kim Eagles-Smith recently moved his gallery to San Rafael. (Photo by Barry Willis)
As unlike as they can be, two huge paintings lure visitors into Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery in San Rafael. One is a spectacular, whimsical, bright blue abstract by Gustavo Ramos Rivera. The other is a realistic oil-on-canvas titled “Point Reyes Barns #5” by Marin artist and IJ outdoor columnist Jeffrey Long. Storefront window attractions include rotund sculptures of cats by legendary sculptor Beniamino Bufano.
It all makes for a fascinating introduction to Kim Eagles-Smith’s new gallery adjacent to Art Works Downtown in San Rafael. Earlier this year, the ebullient owner decamped from Mill Valley and relocated to San Rafael, following former Mill Valley gallerist Donna Seager. The move has contributed to the central Marin city’s growth as an art destination, home to the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Falkirk Cultural Center, the Museum of International Propaganda and other galleries. San Rafael’s more affordable commercial real estate, numerous eateries and coffee shops and ease of parking have all contributed to the exodus from Mill Valley.
It’s not the first move for Eagles-Smith, a Mill Valley resident who for many years operated an anchor gallery near Union Square at 49 Geary St. in San Francisco. 49 Geary was home to many of the city’s most prestigious galleries and hosted building-wide events so popular that art fans spilled out onto the streets. Its status gradually declined, along with the retail scene in that neighborhood, prompting Eagles-Smith to move first to a space on Sunnyside Avenue in Mill Valley — one formerly occupied by Seager and Suzanne Gray’s gallery — and then this year to San Rafael.
A longstanding member of the San Francisco Art Dealers Association, an expert in art history and an enthusiast for modern and contemporary art, Eagles-Smith has logged more than 30 years as a gallerist. He exudes an infectious passion for his work and is happy to converse about anything related to art —and at every level. His grasp of the field is stunning, but he never intimidates visitors with too much theory or depth of knowledge. He’s simply happy to share his enthusiasm.
Running through August, Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery’s current exhibition is a stunning group show dominated by seascape and landscape paintings done in a wide range of styles — from almost photorealistic, such as “Pacific Rim (Estero)” and “Leviathan II” by Brooks Anderson, to soft-focus impressionistic works, such as “April Wetland” and “Valley at Dusk” by John McCormick. Thematically related but stylistically diverse, most of the works on display are oil-on-canvas and range from moderately scaled to imposingly large.
A new acquisition is “North Sea Coast,” an oil-on-canvas by former Bay Area resident Paul Wonner, who died in 2008. The 50-inch-by-50-inch Wonner piece from 1954 landed with Eagles-Smith after a year-long tour of museums, including the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.
“This is one of the best examples we have seen of Wonner’s transition from abstraction to his landscape figurative style of the late 1950s and ’60s,” Eagles-Smith writes about the piece.
“At first the composition appears to be an abstraction, but upon contemplation, a horizon appears of mountain ridgeline dropping down to a coastline that meanders into a frothy cove of breaking surf, with a resting skiff pulled up to the sandy beach. The painting has a vigorously worked, lush impasto surface of blues, greens and white — typical of Wonner’s palette of that era.
“Wonner was included in the 1957 groundbreaking exhibition ‘Figurative Painting of the San Francisco Bay Area,’ curated by Paul Mills at the Oakland Museum.”
Other famed but departed artists in that exhibit included David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff and Wonner’s life partner, William Theophilus Brown.
That’s the sort of insightful commentary art fans can enjoy with Eagles-Smith. It’s often amazing how much we don’t see until an expert makes it clear. He is a big fan and longtime representative of Rivera, whose joyful, exuberant paintings continue to attract collectors worldwide. A coffee-table book on the prolific Mexican American artist graces the gallery’s front window.
Bring your curiosity to the charming space on Fourth Street. Eagles-Smith counts many impressive talents among his roster. He’s eager to discuss them with you.
If you go
What: Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery
Where: 1327 Fourth St., San Rafael
Hours: Noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays or by appointment
Information: 415-609-9850; kesfineart.com