An Artful Illusion

The unparalleled spectacle that is Pageant of the Masters celebrates 90 years of bringing art to life in Laguna Beach

- SARAH GIANELLI

In the early 1930s, Laguna Beach was a remote, secluded artist community home to many plein air painters drawn by its spectacular coastline, desert landscapes and picturesque hills. It was also the era of the Great Depression and money wasn’t easy for anyone to come by, including, and perhaps especially, area artists.

In 1932, they banded together to throw a street fair in a downtown alley with the intent to lure patrons from Los Angeles, which was hosting the Summer Olympics that year. The first festival garnered $200. The following year, the nation’s financial distress reached its peak and, fearful that people would be disinclined to pay the 10-cent fair admission, they added a parade they hoped onlookers would follow down the hill into the center of town and entice them to pay the entrance fee.

And the production, that 90 years later has grown into the epic, jaw-dropping theatrical spectacle of living, breathing art known as the Pageant of the Masters, was born. It has taken place every year since in conjunction with the Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach, a juried art show featuring over 100 artists that grew out of the impromptu street fair that is one year older than the pageant.

The humble beginnings of Laguna Beach’s first living pictures consisted of rudimentary re-creations of the Sistine Madonna, Whistler’s Mother, The Blue Boy and the Mona Lisa on a rolling stage the size of two phone booths, in broad daylight before an audience sitting on the ground.