When L.A. Became One Big Art Museum

As curatorial assistant Naima Keith looked around at the objects on view in Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, the Hammer Museum’s monumental 2011 exhibition, she felt a uniquely personal connection to the pieces.

Not only had she spent years researching them alongside curator Kellie Jones, but among the 140 sculptures, paintings, and photographs on display were examples by family friends she had known since childhood, her mother being a collector of works by Black L.A. artists. Decades earlier, few people, let alone museums, knew these existed; now they were being showcased before tens of thousands of visitors.

Now Dig This! was just one of 68 exhibitions to open that fall through the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time (PST), an unprecedented collaboration of more than 60 cultural institutions in Southern California. PST: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, the first in what is now a series, documented the roots of L.A.’s post–WWII art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world. Exhibitions and programs took place over six months, and 40 related books were published, featuring new research on the art and artists of the period.

Funded by Getty Foundation grants, this PST put an era of overlooked artistic production on the map. From African American assemblagists to feminist practitioners at the Woman’s Building, and from Mexican American artists of the 1950s to the Light and Space innovators of the 1960s, the diverse and groundbreaking practices of many underrecognized artists were made accessible to some 1.8 million visitors from L.A. and around the world. Exhibitions at the Getty Center included Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970, an examination of the progression of creative movements in Southern California; Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950–1980, a look at photographs, ephemera, correspondence, and other objects that revealed how local artists disseminated their works to a broader public; In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945–1980, a presentation of 25 photographs from the Getty Museum’s permanent collection; and From Start to Finish: De Wain Valentine’s “Gray Column,” an exhibition focused on the materials and fabrication processes that made Valentine’s large-scale works possible.

In this context, Now Dig This! chronicled the vital legacy of the city’s African American masters, whose work was informed by such events as the civil rights and Black Power movements. “We left no stone unturned when it came to researching Black L.A. artists and exploring their connections with one another,” remembers Keith, who is now vice president of education and public programs at LACMA. “The goal was to place them in the larger art history of the region. It was a watershed moment.”

Like many other shows developed for PST, Now Dig This! continued to have an impact beyond its three-month L.A. run, traveling to New York and Massachusetts and inspiring a free digital archive that offers full access to artist biographies, video interviews, catalogue essays, artwork images, and more.

“It’s been wonderful watching the long tail of the show’s PST participation,” says Keith. “We’ve seen a renaissance for so many of our artists.”

Because of its historical importance and resonance with audiences, PST has become a mainstay of Getty grantmaking and programming, with subsequent iterations taking place in 2013 and 2017. The Getty Foundation has already awarded more than $5 million in research and planning grants to 45 institutions across the Southland for the next PST in 2024, an exploration of the intersections of art and science.

“When PST first launched in 2011, no one knew what it was, but now it has created a reputation for itself,” says Keith, who will organize the programming to accompany LACMA’s 2024 PST exhibitions. “The reach and value of PST has only become more understood, and I couldn’t be more excited to be participating once again.”