MODJESKA,
PADEREWSKI, AND
THE CALIFORNIA
LANDSCAPE
By Kenneth H. Marcus
ABSTRACT: Two Polish artists—the renowned actress Helena Modjeska and
the famous composer and pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski—were drawn to
California in the 1870s and 1910s respectively. Their bond with the Cali-
fornia landscape in Modjeska’s ranch, El Refugio, near Santa Ana, and
Paderewski’s Rancho San Ignacio, near Paso Robles, offered them retreats
from their performance tours, restored their health, and gave them a sense
of belonging. In turn, both transformed the landscape of the imaginary as
they developed productive agriculture.
Keywords: Modjeska, Helena; Paderewski, Ignacy Jan; California agricul-
ture; gentlemen farmers; landscape of the imaginary
Many thanks go to Phil Brigandi for sharing his knowledge of Helena Modjeska in California and for
his assistance with the images. Thanks also to the staff at Special Collections and Archives at the
University of California, Irvine, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, and the Polish Music Center at
USC. I would further like to thank the anonymous reviewer of this article and the editor of this journal.
Southern California Quarterly, Vol. 100, No. 1, pp. 69–104. ISSN 0038-3929, eISSN 2162-8637. © 2018 by The Historical Society of
Southern California. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University
of California Press’s Reprints and Permissions web page, http://www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p¼reprints. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1525/scq.2018.100.1.69.
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