In March of 1956, the Bakersfield Museum of Art opened its doors as the Cunningham Memorial Gallery with a donation from the Osborn family who wanted to establish an art space dedicated to their late daughter, Marion Osborn Cunningham. An American Impressionist and Modern artist born in 1908, Marion became a well-known pastel artist. Her small compositions were praised for their curious, dream-like charm, deft drawing, surreal landscapes, and color harmony. Her keen eye for composition and design draws the viewer into her work. intimate street scenes and surreal landscapes. Later in her career, she began producing silkscreen prints, also known as serigraphs.

The silkscreen process, little used before her time, was championed by Cunningham. In a serigraph, colors are applied to paper through a screen of taut silk which supports a stencil. Each color required a separate stencil. The final effect is achieved by adding colors to the paper through each stencil until all parts of the image are complete. Cunningham’s serigraphs usually required at least 21 stencils. She created more than 20,000 serigraphs.

The subject of her first serigraph was the California street cable car. She was a loyal advocate for the preservation of these landmarks. Her colorful reproductions of the cable cars were a nationwide favorite. Much of her work, done mostly in San Francisco, reflected the daily activities of average Americans. She had a keen eye for composition and design, and she made both vivid and decorative use of color.


Dynamic, Surreal, Vibrant

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