1: California lacketh modernism; 2: Stanton bringeth the Testament of St. Pablo; 3-6: Groups are formed and Synchronism codified.California, and the rest of the USA’s occidental coast, was virtually untouched by modern art in 1918. Impressionism was still considered to be pretty radical.
In 1920, Stanton began to experiment with film. He created a full-length feature film, but it was destroyed in a fire. In the same year, he organised the first modern art exposition at ‘The Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, Exposition Park’, entitled ‘Exhibition of Paintings by American Modernists’. He also gave several lectures there, on modern art.
In 1923 he began teaching at the ‘Los Angeles Art Students League’, where he had previously studied before moving to Paris. He soon took over as director, and held the post for ten years. He also organised the ‘First Exhibition of the Group of Independant Artists of Los Angeles’; the Group of Independant Artists of Los Angeles became an important artistic group in the area.
In 1924 he wrote ‘A Treatise on Color’, summarising the Synchronist method. This is probably his most important literary work.
«I have just gotten out a book on color, 60 copies with handmade charts of spectrums, which I hope to sell at $10 each. This is in the hands of God»The next year, 1925, he organised the ‘Modern Art Workers’. This became another important artist collective in California. He also organised various exhibitions of modern art in the following years.— Stanton in a letter to Morgan Russel
