Robert Wark

Imagine "Masterpiece Theatre" getting the notion of doing one of its leisurely, humane series here in Lotusland. Somehow a city that only slows down for gummed-up freeways doesn't quite fit the bill. On the other hand, there are places hereabouts that do approximate the program's sense of the past existing in the present and chief among them is the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino.

A memorial service for Robert R. Wark, former director of the art collections at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. Wark died June 8 at 82.

A memorial service for Robert R. Wark, former director of the art collections at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. Wark died June 8 at 82.

Robert R. Wark, a scholar of British art who for 34 years presided over the art division of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens with uncommon erudition, wit and grace, has died. He was 82. Wark died June 8 in Edmonton, Canada, his birthplace, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease, a Huntington spokesperson said.

Robert R. Wark, a scholar of British art who for 34 years presided over the art division of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens with uncommon erudition, wit and grace, has died. He was 82. Wark died June 8 in Edmonton, Canada, his birthplace, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease, a Huntington spokesperson said.

"It's probably corny to say you like 'Pinkie' and 'Blue Boy,' but how could you not? They are such monuments of British art history," said Edward J. Nygren, admiring two popular favorites by Sir Thomas Lawrence and Thomas Gainsborough at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. "I have a particular fondness for Gainsborough (the painter of 'Blue Boy') because I'm a sucker for artists who love to paint.

New Huntington Curator: Edward J. Nygren, director and chief curator of the Smith College Museum of Art, has been appointed curator of the Huntington Art Collections in San Marino. He will take over the post March 1, succeeding Robert Wark, who retired in June after 34 years.

Shocking is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings after seeing Gainsborough's "Blue Boy" and Lawrence's "Pinkie" on the cover of Calendar ("The Huntington's Glorious Restoration," by Suzanne Muchnic, Sept. 28). Both recently cleaned paintings were being carried across a driveway in the wide-open and without benefit of protective blankets. The surfaces of the canvases were exposed. It's hard to believe that not a single person in a curatorial or transport capacity was aware of the fact that there are birds flying around Southern California.

Save your book budget. The long-awaited Dictionary of Art will go on the market in October at a retail price of $8,000. Fourteen years in the making, the 34-volume, 30,000-page tome is billed as the most comprehensive art-historical reference work ever published. Containing 15,000 illustrations, it is also the largest collection of images in any art-historical publication. To produce the landmark project, Grove's Dictionaries Inc. commissioned 41,000 articles by 6,700 scholars.

With $53 million raised toward the $100-million endowment for the Archdiocesan Education Foundation, 700 guests were definitely upbeat at the Regent Beverly Wilshire black-tie party chaired by Sally Conn, Marcia Hayden and Kathleen McCarthy. The event celebrated establishment of the fund, which will provide money for inner-city schools and quality education for disadvantaged students.

"It's probably corny to say you like 'Pinkie' and 'Blue Boy,' but how could you not? They are such monuments of British art history," said Edward J. Nygren, admiring two popular favorites by Sir Thomas Lawrence and Thomas Gainsborough at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. "I have a particular fondness for Gainsborough (the painter of 'Blue Boy') because I'm a sucker for artists who love to paint.

Imagine "Masterpiece Theatre" getting the notion of doing one of its leisurely, humane series here in Lotusland. Somehow a city that only slows down for gummed-up freeways doesn't quite fit the bill. On the other hand, there are places hereabouts that do approximate the program's sense of the past existing in the present and chief among them is the Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino.

Not everything's coming up roses--or fairies and nymphs--in "Fantasy Art: British Drawings and Watercolors." This sweet little show, in the changing exhibition gallery at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (through June 28), has its share of the grotesque and the weird.