Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.
Judy Chicago made Car Hood using techniques that she had learned at auto-body school in Los Angeles: she sprayed the hood of a Chevrolet Corvair in glossy automotive lacquer. The spray technique, the bold colors, and the pinstriping align the work with the custom-car culture popular in Southern California, which also inspired many other artists, among them Billy Al Bengston. According to Chicago, the imagery in Car Hood also refers to male and female forms, a reflection of the challenges that she faced as a woman in the macho environments of both the car shop and the L.A. art world at the time.
Ablutions performance at Guy Dill’s studio, with Judy Chicago, Suzanne Lacy, Sandra Orgel, and Aviva Rahmani (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Art in the Public Interest and 18th Street Arts Center, 2006.M.8.42. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol
Hard Edge group exhibition with works by Ronald Davis and Judy Chicago at Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles, May 1964. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.2
Selected Press Reaction to “Sex Differentials in Art Exhibition Reviews,” publication by Tamarind Lithography Workshop, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.21. Courtesy of June Wayne/Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc.
Los Angeles Council of Women Artists Report, June 15, 1971. The Getty Research Institute, 2003.M.46
Womanhouse catalogue, Feminist Art Program at CalArts, 1972. Designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. The Getty Research Institute, 89-B23677. Courtesy of CalArts Archives
Womanhouse announcement, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.6. Courtesy of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
Womanhouse installation in Los Angeles, featuring Robin Weltsch’s Kitchen and Vicki Hodgetts’s Eggs to Breasts (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, 2000.M.43.1. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol
Explore the Era
Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.
Car Hood
Car Hood, 1964, Judy Chicago. Sprayed acrylic lacquer on Corvair car hood. 42 15/16 x 49 3/16 x 4 5/16 in. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Acquired 2007 with means from The Second Museum of our Wishes. © Judy Chicago, 1964. Photo © Donald Woodman
On View at the Getty Center: Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970
Judy Chicago made Car Hood using techniques that she had learned at auto-body school in Los Angeles: she sprayed the hood of a Chevrolet Corvair in glossy automotive lacquer. The spray technique, the bold colors, and the pinstriping align the work with the custom-car culture popular in Southern California, which also inspired many other artists, among them Billy Al Bengston. According to Chicago, the imagery in Car Hood also refers to male and female forms, a reflection of the challenges that she faced as a woman in the macho environments of both the car shop and the L.A. art world at the time.
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Works of Art
Big Blue Pink from the Flesh Gardens series, 1971, Judy Chicago. Sprayed acrylic lacquer on acrylic. 96 in x 96 in. Tom Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles. © Judy Chicago, 1971. Photo © Donald Woodman
Ablutions performance at Guy Dill’s studio, with Judy Chicago, Suzanne Lacy, Sandra Orgel, and Aviva Rahmani (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Art in the Public Interest and 18th Street Arts Center, 2006.M.8.42. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol
Explore the Archive
Judy Gerowitz, also known as Judy Chicago, with her Sunset Squares installation at Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles, 1966. © 2011 Judy Chicago / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan
Announcement for Judy Chicago exhibition at California State University, Fullerton, October 23– November 25, 1970. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.5. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan.
Hard Edge group exhibition with works by Ronald Davis and Judy Chicago at Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles, May 1964. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.2
Selected Press Reaction to “Sex Differentials in Art Exhibition Reviews,” publication by Tamarind Lithography Workshop, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.21. Courtesy of June Wayne/Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc.
Los Angeles Council of Women Artists Report, June 15, 1971. The Getty Research Institute, 2003.M.46
Several Los Angeles artists at Culture Day at LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art), 1968. Photo by and © Julian Wasser.
Womanhouse catalogue, Feminist Art Program at CalArts, 1972. Designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. The Getty Research Institute, 89-B23677. Courtesy of CalArts Archives
Womanhouse announcement, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.6. Courtesy of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
Womanhouse installation in Los Angeles, featuring Robin Weltsch’s Kitchen and Vicki Hodgetts’s Eggs to Breasts (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, 2000.M.43.1. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol