ART

Nepote & Nutcrackers opens in the Collections Room of the Peninsula Art Museum in Belmont. The exhibit showcases five Alexander Nepote oil paintings recently donated to the museum by Dr. Robert Kraft. Kraft, now retired, was co-chair of pathology for Mills-Peninsula Hospital. The artwork was collected by his late wife, Robby Lee Kraft.

Nepote, who died in 1986, was known for his mixed-media abstractions. He served as dean of the faculty at the California College of Arts and Crafts from 1945 to 1950 and held the same position at San Francisco State College (now SFSU) from 1950 to 1977.

Early in his artistic career, Nepote created watercolor landscapes. In the 1940s, he began painting in oil, with his work becoming more abstract. In the 1960s, he focused on rock shapes and textures, combining watercolors and experimental collage techniques.

The five Nepote works in the show are Enticing Order, Tidepool Surroundings, Yellowstone White Cliff, White Sandstone Cliff and Early Spring Fog. Note: Image displayed above is not part of the exhibit and is for representational purposes but is one of Alexander Nepote's work titled West Canyon.

Nutcrackers form the second component of the exhibit. A variety of German nutcrackers from the collection of Belmont residents Bob and Carroll O'Conner will be on view.