Charles L Winebrenner (1920 - 1998)

Untitled Abstraction, c. 1950s, mixed media on board, signed lower right, 40 x 40 inches, presented in a new frame

$4,250

Charles Logan Winebrenner was an award-winning Southern California painter, sculptor, and collage artist. He was born in Venice, California to parents Harry Fielding Winebrenner and Marie Underwood. Charles was raised in an artistic home. A West Virginia native who grew up in Oklahoma, Harry had studied art at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago where he won a scholarship to further his art education at the British Academy in Rome and the Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Harry moved to Southern California in 1917 and Charles was born three years later. Harry served as the head of the art department at Venice High School for twenty-six years. In 1922 he created the iconic Fountain of Education which became a symbol of the Venice community. The model for the central female figure “Inspiration” was the future actress Myrna Loy, who at the time was a shy sixteen-year-old student at Venice High School. In addition to his public sculptures, Harry exhibited with the California Art Club, the Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, and the Society for Sanity in Art.

Charles followed in his father’s footsteps and became an artist. He first studied with his father and other faculty members while a student at Venice High School. Winebrenner later studied for seven years with Nicolai Fechin. After attending college for two years in Los Angeles, Winebrenner began working as a draftsman for the Douglas Aircraft Company. On September 4, 1942, Winebrenner enlisted in the US Army Corps of Engineers.  After the war, he returned to work as an artist in the aircraft industry. As early as 1946, Winebrenner began to exhibit artwork in juried exhibitions around Southern California, including with the California Watercolor Society at the Otis Art Institute and the National Watercolor Society at Los Angeles’ Municipal Art Gallery. He also exhibited at the Los Angeles Art Association, the La Jolla Art Center, the Long Beach Museum, the Oakland Museum, and the Finegood Gallery of the Jewish Community Center. Winebrenner showed with many of the leading LA artists of the time, including Edward Biberman, Tyrus Wong, Douglas Parshall, Roger Kuntz, Ralph Hulett, Hans Burkhardt, Peter Voulkos, Frederick Hammersley, and Claire Falkenstein. His works often received positive reviews and Winebrenner won awards at the California Watercolor Society, the National Watercolor Society, and the Art Show and Sale of the St. Albans Church Episcopal Church (Lyton Savings and Loan Purchase Prize, 1966 and Litton Industries Prize, 1968). Winebrenner also served as a juror for the California National Watercolor Society and exhibited at commercial galleries in Los Angeles from the 1950s into the 1990s.