A Tale of Two Paintings
Artists have been known to speak of their paintings as their “children." If we accept that metaphor, then the Alameda Museum participated recently in a mini “family reunion” that involved a painting located in distant Munich, Germany, and another in nearby Hayward. It all began when a letter arrived in the Curator’s office from Mark di Frangia, a longtime American resident in Germany, who introduced himself as a great-grandson of Gertrude A. Snow Brooks, a well-known Alameda artist. He kindly offered to donate a painting by her in his possession and also indicated that his brother, Brian Harris of Hayward, would most likely be happy to donate one, too. This, of course, came as great news to us. Some years ago the mother of these two men, Marilyn Harris, donated…