IRVINE, CA.- The Irvine Museum presents A Summer Idyll: Picturesque Views of California June 25 through October 6, 2016. The exhibition is a glorious celebration of summer in the Golden State that combines works by historic and contemporary California artists painted over the past one hundred years.

Historic California impressionist artists featured in the exhibition include Joseph Kleitch (1882-1931), Emil Kosa (1903-1968), Guy Rose (1867-1925), Donna Schuster (1883-1953), George Gardner Symons (1863-1930), and Sam Hyde Harris (1889-1977), among other masters.

A highlight of the exhibition is Kleitsch's Red and Green, which depicts the artist's wife and a friend strolling through the gardens of the Mission San Juan Capistrano. The painting is set in late afternoon with the golden glow of the sun casting a deep shadow in the immediate foreground. In addition, the exhibition features a watercolor painting by Kosa entitled Lunch in the Park, which portrays a family's summer outing beneath the dappled shade of a grove of trees.

In recognition of the thriving school of contemporary landscape painters, the exhibition features several works by noted plein air painters currently working throughout the United States. On the Edge by John Cosby is a large important work that shows cliff-side homes in Shell Beach, a small seaside community on California's central coast. A bouquet of elegant summer flowers becomes the subject of Lavender Gladiolus and Sunflowers by Jim McVicker. The work shows a colorful arrangement of blooms set against a background of intricately woven oriental rugs. In addition, the visitor can enjoy paintings by contemporary plain air masters Jesse Powell, Bryan Mark Taylor, Mian Situ, Steven Mirich, Rita Pacheco, and West Fraser, among others.