20 - Bernard Healey

Stinson Beach and Bolinas Lagoon, April 2017
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 48 x 4 inches
Courtesy The Bernard and Beverly Healey Family Trust

The much-beloved, early-California, landscape painter Bernard Healey (1926-2022) began his career painting alongside Frank Lobdell and other Bay-Area Abstract Expressionists at the California School of Fine Arts (San Francisco Art Institute) in the 1950s. The present painting, Stinson Beach and Bolinas Lagoon (2017), exhibits Healey’s signature brushstroke, which combines thick areas of impasto with thin, delicate washes in order to convey mood. Often working en plein air, Healey loved to begin painting in the field before finishing a painting in his studio. “I have always had a compulsion to record it in my own way, so I can show a viewer how I see a scene and how I experience it,” he said.

Originally born in New York, by the 1960s Healey had made Mill Valley his home. After serving two years in the Navy, he decided to pursue a career as an artist/illustrator. He worked with PG&E as a cartoonist and Bechtel Corporation as Supervisor of Technical Publications. In recent years, Healey taught at MarinMOCA, Mill Valley Community Center, and College of Marin. His work is published in the book Land Water Sky: Visions of Marin and the California Waterways.

Early bidding for this Live Auction item is available until October 14th at 12 noon; at that point, if you have not set a maximum bid online and cannot attend the main event, please email us at info@marinmoca.org by Saturday, October 15th at 12 noon with your proxy bid. A MarinMOCA representative will execute your bid(s) on your behalf up to, but not beyond, the defined amount during the Live Auction event on October 15th.