Courtesy images.
Premiere Party: Saturday, March 14, 2026, from 4 PM to 6 PM
On view from March 14, 2026, to July 12, 2026
SANTA PAULA — Coming soon to the Santa Paula Art Museum: “Cornelis Botke: Painter of the Western Scene,” the largest exhibition ever staged of paintings by historic Santa Paula artist Cornelis Botke (1887-1954). The exhibition will open with a premiere party on Saturday, March 14, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission to the premiere event is $5 for SPAM members and $10 for non-members. “Cornelis Botke: Painter of the Western Scene” will be on view from March 14, 2026, to July 12, 2026.
Cornelis Botke is best remembered as a master etcher whose work earned international acclaim and entered the collections of the California State Library, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution. Yet from childhood, Botke’s greatest ambition was to be a painter. Born in Leeuwarden, Holland, in 1987, Botke emigrated to the United States in 1906 and later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. He married fellow artist Jessie Arms Botke in 1914, and the couple later settled on a ranch in Wheeler Canyon in Santa Paula in 1929, where they created what they considered their finest work.
Botke’s landscapes, seascapes, and still lifes are widely admired for their bright, joyous color, and decorative compositions. This exhibition features more than 50 oil and watercolor paintings, as well as preparatory drawings gathered from private collections and the permanent collections of the City of Santa Paula, Santa Paula Unified School District, and the Santa Paula Art Museum.
The exhibition is sponsored by Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home & Cremation Service and Boyko & Reardon Telegraph Road Mortuary and Cremation in Ventura.
