Iconic Napa Valley artist Lowell Herrero turned his passion for living into an enduring work of art. From his home in Calistoga, Herrero traveled to Tuscany, Provence, and Spain, absorbing the lessons of their sensuous and vivid landscapes. Portraying plump figures in the lavender fields and sinuous groves of olive trees, his work defined Napa Valley’s popular image. Now on the 10th anniversary of the Museum’s last Herrero retrospective, we examine his life, work, and the works of artists who influenced the valley’s legendary “Lavender Man.” Curated by Jennifer Garden, with previously-unseen works provided by Herrero’s wife Janet Gentile Herrero.
Biography
Throughout a dynamic life that has spanned the Great Depression, the Second World War, the rise of Silicon Valley, and the dawn of the twenty-first century, Lowell Herrero has turned his passion for living into art. From his home in California, he has traveled to Tuscany, Provence, and Spain, absorbing the lessons of their sensuous landscapes. The colors of horizons and rich earth, the sensations of sunlight, and the fragrance of flower-covered hillsides mingle in his imagination and flow through his paintbrush onto his canvases.
Herrero feels a deep affinity with farmers working the land. He renders them bursting with life, over-large, and enduring extensions of the very soil they cultivate. In his paintings, vineyards stretch into the distance as grape pickers enjoy lunch under a cloudless blue sky. Lavender harvesters bend to their task, and a field of rolled bales tells us the hard work of haying is at an end. Each painting invites us to smile with pleasure and enjoy the inner vitality and plenitude of the landscape. But above all, the paintings project the irrepressible joie de vivre of an artist who knows how to live.
Sponsored by the Friends of Herrero
