February 21 - May 8, 2002
Catherine Courtenaye: Sampler
Latham Square office building
located at 1611 Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland
Hours: 9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday
Presented by the Oakland Museum of California Professional Services division

Professional Services Exhibition Archive

Catherine Courtenaye

The work of Catherine Courtenaye explores the widespread practice of penmanship during the Victorian era. Painting with measured grace, she surveys nineteenth-century America's search for perfection and order as demonstrated by the popular culture's interest in handwriting manuals. The manuals' regimented exercises were considered morally uplifting and played an important part in a self-improvement program that was sweeping the country at the time.

Irony, excess and tension permeate her paintings, affirming the dichotomy between the flourishes displayed in penmanship copybooks and the discipline required to perfect them. By examining the nuances of nineteenth-century penmanship, Courtenaye provides a window into broader issues of cultural uniformity and convention.

Elizabeth C. McLaughlin

Sponsored by Latham Square Associates, LLC and CAC Real Estate Management Company, Inc. in association with the Oakland Museum of California Professional Services division.