Paul Youngman paints Napa Valley
By Rosemarie Kempton
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — It would take a lot of willpower for those of us who love scenic landscapes to walk past a Paul Youngman oil painting without longing to step inside and stay for a long time. His work reveals a wealth of subject matter throughout California and the West that is richly colored yet not overdone.
Youngman’s portrayal of Napa Valley celebrates its natural beauty as well as hints at small-town values that will never disappear in his art. Over the years he has become one of the finest and most popular Wine Country landscape painters, with collectors throughout the United States and Europe.
When given the opportunity to talk to a roomful of people assembled at the Steve Rogers Gallery at Community Center to see his show, “Napa Valley Seasons & Places,” on display there through Dec.1, Youngman kept his speech exceptionally short.
A few days later he was at his portable easel in front of the Yountville’s Community Center, where he painted while his wife, Lee Youngman, who owned and operated Lee Youngman Galleries in Calistoga for 35 years, talked about his art.
“Paul speaks through his paintings,” she said. “He loves to leave the four walls of the studio behind and experience painting outdoors. His paintings have the essence of the early California plein air artists’ view of color and of changing light but with a contemporary sophistication.”
There’s a depth and realness in his work that appeals to collectors throughout the country. His serious private and corporate collectors have included Leon Panetta, Dole Pineapple, Hollister Inc., Elmer Bernstein, Burt Reynolds, Elinor Donahue and Muhammad Ali.
“When Muhammad Ali commissioned a painting of a canyon with a river running through it to be placed in a special niche in his home, it was the largest painting Paul had ever done, but it was 2 inches too small, so Paul had to do it again,” Lee said. “Ali’s wife, Lonnie, wrote to us that ‘Ali just sits and stares at it (the painting) for hours.’”
“Many people collect Paul’s art,” she said. “A collector flew out from Washington D.C., last week to buy more of his paintings. He now has a collection of 17 of Paul’s paintings.”
Born in 1941 and raised in Wisconsin, Paul majored in fine art and graphic art at the University of California Los Angeles and worked as an architectural and freelance illustrator for 20 years before devoting himself full time to painting.
He is a member of the California Art Club and signature member of the Oil Painters of America. He has been featured in many art magazines as well as a coffee table book, “Art of the American West.” His paintings have appeared in movies that include “Bottle Shock,” “Bridge of Spies” starring Tom Hanks and “Wine Country” with Tina Fey.
“All 11 of the paintings in the ‘Bottle Rock’ movie were Paul’s,” Lee said. “’Bottle Shock’ really put his name out there. Eight dealers came to Napa Valley for a private showing. Everybody wanted their picture taken with Paul, and 10 of the 11 ‘Bottle Shock’ paintings sold.”
While still a Santa Barbara resident, Paul, who focused on watercolors at the time, joined the Lee Youngman Gallery in Calistoga in 1991.
“If an artist didn’t sell well, we parted friends, but I didn’t keep them in the gallery,” Lee said. “Paul sold very well. In February 1994 I had a one-man show of his watercolors. His show was very successful.”
By October 1994 Paul and Lee were married. He moved to Napa and switched from watercolor to oil painting. The couple remain an artistic team who deeply appreciate each other.
“I couldn’t do it without Lee,” Paul said. “I don’t know any artist of any caliber who didn’t have a spouse who was supportive. She always took care of her artists, and they love her. She was a great gallery person.”
What prompted Lee to become an art gallery owner?
Lee grew up as the daughter of Ralph Love, a minister and well-known painter of California and the Grand Canyon whose work hangs in the permanent collections of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Northern Arizona Museum in Flagstaff and many other prestigious galleries. She learned a great deal about art by observing the way her father painted and from the many art books in her home. She also learned something about selling art as a youngster.
At age 4, foreshadowing the direction her life would take, she thought selling her father’s art was a good idea, so without consulting her parents she took his paintings outside and lined them up along the picket fence of the parsonage where her family lived. She priced them at 5 cents each and felt very proud when a neighbor bought one.
“Fortunately, the neighbor brought the painting back and told my parents what I was up to,” she said, laughing. “I really thought I was helping the family’s finances.”
She carried the work of more than 40 prominent painters and sculptors in her gallery, including the work of her husband and her father. The last of her father’s paintings sold for $24,000.
After 35 years in operation, three fire evacuations and the pandemic, the gallery closed in 2020. Two years later the couple relocated to Yountville, where they say they are now enjoying the “beauty and community of small-town life.” Lee is a part-time pianist for the Yountville Community Church, and Paul is immortalizing places throughout Yountville in his oil paintings.
A scan code next to most of his paintings at the Steve Rogers Gallery brings up information about the paintings.
The Steve Rogers Gallery at Community Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and evenings and weekends by appointment.
Rosemarie Kempton is a Napa Valley-based journalist.
Fascinating artist and wonderful story of Lee & Paul. They are a national treasure with a true love of nature and the beauty of Napa Valley.
Talented artist