Here - Art and Living

The Getty
Research
Institute:
Behind the
Scenes
J. Robert Scott’s
Sally Sirkin Lewis
Bill Viola at the
Palm Springs
Art Museum
Fine Art Galleries:
Patricia Faure
Zabriskie
THE RETURN
Revisiting the Birth
OF COOL
of L.A.’s Art Scene
$12.00 Fall 2007
From left to right: Robert Irwin, Ed Moses,
Craig Kauffman, Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston, Larry Bell

table of contents
featuring
12 Crossing Over
Bill Viola’s earth and water video installation provides food
for thought at the Palm Springs Art Museum
40 The Return of Cool
LA’s art scene of the 60s is being revisited this fall in a bevy of
exhibitions and a well-received film. Art and Living investigates
70 Three Fell Swoops
With three new archival acquisitions under its belt, the
Getty Research Institute has poised itself at the vanguard
of architectural scholarship
76 Goddess in the Details
Sally Sirkin Lewis of J. Robert Scott cultivates beauty in simplicity
104 A Legend in Her Own Time
For a lifetime, Patricia Faure has cultivated only the best of
the art world
106 A Gallerist Revealed
As Zabriskie Gallery celebrates more than 50 years in
operation, its namesake’s dedication to art remains unwavering
Bill Viola, The Crossing, 1996.Video/sound installation. Photo by Kira Perov.
12
70
Pierre Koenig, Case Study House No. 22 (Los Angeles, California), 1960.
Gelatin silver print. Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
also inside
for the art connoisseur
36 Special Report:The 52 nd Venice Biennale
artist profile
60 Larry Bell and Ed Moses discuss nows and thens
of the LA art scene
the art of the craft
66 For decades, Jack Brogan has been the go-to guy
for help in realizing the grand ambitions of many
of the Southland’s top artists
the art of design
82 Cheryl Rowley: Composing the Poetry of Place
the art of the chef
86 In New York and Los Angeles, two gatherings of culinary
masters remind that the art of the chef is not only about
the food—often, it’s about giving back
4 Fall 2007

table of contents
Andy Moses, Reflections at Dawn, 2007. Acrylic on concave canvas.
Image courtesy the artist/Patricia Faure Gallery.
14
the art of escape
92 In the heart of the South Pacific, a new artists’ space is making waves,
promising an interactive experience for the true art aficionado
Robert Irwin,
Untitled, ca. 1960-61.
Oil on canvas.
Gift of Ruth and
Murray A. Gribin.
© Robert Irwin
1960-61/Artists
Rights Society,
New York.
104
Publishing/Finance
Publisher
Jeff Marinelli
Executive Publisher
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Managing Editor
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Technical Editor
B.R. Gilbert
Design
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Photography
Contributing Photographers
Steven Barston
Jillian E. Sorkin
Patrick Stanbro
Contributors
Southern California
Contributors
Roberta Carasso
Victoria Charters
Christy Dusablon
Peter Frank
Jeffrey Head
Janet Margolis
Morris Newman
Vladimir Nemirovsky
Layla Revis
Daniella Walsh
Boston Contributor
Shirley Moskow
Chicago Contributor
Michelle Carney
Miami Contributor
Kathryn Orosz
Paris Contributors
Joelle Diderich
Sophie Videment Dupouy
Tokyo Contributor
Emmanuel Guillaud
London Contributor
Edward Ashe
Madrid Contributor
Beatriz Bonduel Smith
Advertising
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the art of giving
96 A conversation with Shelby White, the face behind the
recently opened Leon Levy and Shelby White Court at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art
100 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: Inside a Center of Innovative Healing
in every issue
8 From the Publisher
14 Museums: Now Showing
32 Art Date
108 Galleries: Now Showing
118 Events
On the Cover:
From left,“Cool School”
artists Robert Irwin,
Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman,
Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston,
and Larry Bell.
Photo by Howard Wise.
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6 Fall 2007

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from the publisher
As the publisher of a magazine based in Los Angeles, it gives me great
pride to present this issue, which includes some interesting takes on
the growth of LA’s world-renowned art scene. During the past halfcentury,
Los Angeles has become an arts mecca of huge importance.
Lots of people have toiled endlessly over the years to create the present
scene here and they deserve a long-overdue round of applause
for their efforts. In the pages that follow, you’ll see that, since the days
of Ferus Gallery’s “Cool School” with its roster of such maverick artists
as Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, and Ed
Kienholz, and through the influence of such homegrown movements
as the “Finish Fetish” and “Light and Space” schools, LA’s art world has
been (and continues to be) a force to be reckoned with.
But before you read on, let me take the chance to talk about
what our team has accomplished recently.
First of all, we are pleased to say that Art and Living has been recognized as the first major magazine to
successfully combine the high-profile art and design worlds into one publication.The recognition was made in
an Associated Press segment (airing nationwide) that covered our first ever Art to Life Awards.
September marked the launch of Art and Living’s completely revamped website. Now, readers can log on to
artandliving.com and get up-to-date information about artists, designers, gallery and museum shows, and so much
more.We also have teamed up with YouTube to begin publishing video content of artist and designer interviews,
virtual museum and gallery tours, and events the magazine attends. Boot up your web browsers and check it out!
And of course, with art fair season just around the corner, it’s an exciting time for art connoisseurs everywhere.Visitors
to Art Basel Miami, the LA Art Show, and numerous other art shows around the country should
be on the lookout for a special preview edition of Art and Living’s Spring issue available only at these great events.
I’ll see you at the fairs!
Jeff Marinelli
Art and Living wishes to give thanks to all of our sponsors:
8 Fall 2007

from the publisher
As the publisher of a magazine based in Los Angeles, it gives me great
pride to present this issue, which includes some interesting takes on
the growth of LA’s world-renowned art scene. During the past halfcentury,
Los Angeles has become an arts mecca of huge importance.
Lots of people have toiled endlessly over the years to create the present
scene here and they deserve a long-overdue round of applause
for their efforts. In the pages that follow, you’ll see that, since the days
of Ferus Gallery’s “Cool School” with its roster of such maverick artists
as Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Larry Bell, and Ed
Kienholz, and through the influence of such homegrown movements
as the “Finish Fetish” and “Light and Space” schools, LA’s art world has
been (and continues to be) a force to be reckoned with.
But before you read on, let me take the chance to talk about
what our team has accomplished recently.
First of all, we are pleased to say that Art and Living has been recognized as the first major magazine to
successfully combine the high-profile art and design worlds into one publication.The recognition was made in
an Associated Press segment (airing nationwide) that covered our first ever Art to Life Awards.
September marked the launch of Art and Living’s completely revamped website. Now, readers can log on to
artandliving.com and get up-to-date information about artists, designers, gallery and museum shows, and so much
more.We also have teamed up with YouTube to begin publishing video content of artist and designer interviews,
virtual museum and gallery tours, and events the magazine attends. Boot up your web browsers and check it out!
And of course, with art fair season just around the corner, it’s an exciting time for art connoisseurs everywhere.Visitors
to Art Basel Miami, the LA Art Show, and numerous other art shows around the country should
be on the lookout for a special preview edition of Art and Living’s Spring issue available only at these great events.
I’ll see you at the fairs!
Jeff Marinelli
Art and Living wishes to give thanks to all of our sponsors:
8 Fall 2007

spotlight museum
Crossing Over
Bill Viola’s earth and water video installation provides food for thought at the
Palm Springs Art Museum By Roberta Carasso
Due to advances in still photography and in
the realm of audio/visual technology, the
photographer’s palette has broadened
immensely over the last few decades, allowing for greater
scale of emotional, visual, and conceptual possibilities.
Arguably, among the most outstanding of video
installation artists today is California-based pioneer Bill
Viola who, for over 37 years, has worked in all forms of
the medium. The Crossing, created in 1996 for the
Savannah College of Art and Design’s Olympic Arts
Festival and currently exhibited at the Palm Springs Art
Museum, asks profound questions about the human journey,
its purpose and, perhaps through the artistry of its
presentation, brings closer an understanding of the
meaning behind these aspects of existence.
Within a darkened room, two large screens are
mounted. On one, a man—Viola himself—slowly
approaches, gradually filling the screen as he gets closer.
He stops and stands still. Suddenly, fire leaps at his
feet until his entire body is consumed and his image
is no more.
On the other screen, Viola approaches again. But
this time he is inundated by a deluge from above that
crashes down on him; soon, he is gone. Only a slight
flame and a few drops of water remain on the floor
where once stood a human being.
Bill Viola. Photo by Wouter Vandenbrink.
In metaphorical fashion, both films begin again and
the cycle of annihilation by fire or water occurs once more. Man endures, is The installation engages all our primeval senses. Leaping flames soar
consumed, and is resurrected—only to endure, be consumed, and be resurrected
once more. Simply put, Viola shows us his version of the cycle of the eyes, ears, and the body—even the skin tingles.Viola creates images that
upward and roaring water surges downward.The sequence of events affects
life—how two opposing natural forces, which can bring purification or propel us through human experiences that are meditative, frightening, repulsive,
challenging, and enigmatic.
destruction, eliminate the physical human body, leaving only the soul to
ignite the process once more.
Through the mastery of modern technology—but without the viewer’s
12 Fall 2007

awareness of that technology—Viola presents the human experience
of birth, life, death, and rebirth in order to encourage a close study of
the nature of the journey, its purpose, and where it leads. Few can
enter the installation and not find a message within the dynamic images
that flicker to the rhythm of our inner consciousness.
Viola’s video art grew out of the conceptual and post-minimalist
movements of the 1970s. The central component of his work has
revolved around that which cannot be explored through limited
media—namely, human phenomena and a close exploration of the
transcendent world. Viola was influenced dramatically by the yearand-a-half
he lived in Japan in 1980 when he studied Zen Buddhism,
performing arts, and traditional Japanese Noh Theater. There he discovered
the Japanese use of video equipment and the amazing possibilities
it held.
In The Crossing, Viola goes beyond two-dimensional photography
and three-dimensional sculpture to encounter a fourth dimension of
time and, within it, the rhythms of human thought.
“He passively surrenders to these violent forces and ultimately
transcends them, disappearing into thin air without a trace,”Viola says of
The Crossing’s effigy.“This is not an image of death and destruction—it’s
a complete transformation of the self. In Buddhism, the path to selfpurification,
or enlightenment, is called ‘Paramita,’ which means ‘perfection’
or ‘perfect realization.’The original Chinese character for Paramita
also means ‘crossing over to the other shore.’”
It is said that the difference between a technician and an artist is
that, while the technician uses equipment only as it is meant to be used,
the artist finds ways to break out of the technical limitations of this same
equipment. In The Crossing, Viola, through immense sensitivity to dark,
light, shadows, and motion, creates a reality that allows us to enter the
film and come closer to understanding fundamental truths about the
nature of the human experience.
Bill Viola:The Crossing
Palm Springs Museum of Art
October 27 – December 23, 2007
101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs, California
760.325.7186 • www.psmuseum.org
(Top and Left): Bill Viola, The Crossing, 1996.Video/sound installation.
Photo by Kira Perov.
Art and Living 13

museums
Now Showing
Fall is in the air and art is on the mind.
Here are Art and Living’s museum exhibition
picks for this autumn
Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1969. Acrylic lacquer on formed acrylic plastic
Museum purchase. © Robert Irwin 1969/Artists Rights Society, New York.
career—strength through minimally pure forms, maximum use of light within
space, symmetry of design, and surprising inventiveness.
Irwin began as an abstract expressionist painter,West Coast style, rendering
minimal imagery on canvas. Rather than paint the impression of space on
a flat canvas, he forged ahead sculpturally to realize the magic when space and
light are pushed beyond their known limits.Thus, Irwin manipulates real light
Robert Irwin, Untitled, ca. 1960-61. Oil on canvas. Gift of Ruth and Murray A.
Gribin. © Robert Irwin 1960-61/Artists Rights Society, New York.
Robert Irwin: Primaries and Secondaries
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego,
San Diego, California
Who else could be called a master, if not Robert Irwin In
his career spanning over 50 years, he has expanded the
borders of art, manipulating light and space with the same
dexterity as others shape tangible artistic media. In Primaries and
Secondaries, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego offers a full
panorama of Irwin’s work.
Most notable are five new major installations; four were created for
MCASD and the fifth, Who’s Afraid of Red,Yellow & Blue 3, is among his most
impressive works. Using primary colors, Irwin constructs a visual dialogue
between three panels on the floor and the shapes and colors on the ceiling
that echo them. The architectural structure, composed of industrial aircraft
honeycomb aluminum, embodies Irwin’s consistent signature throughout his
in real space and allows form to emerge from what seems like nothingness. In
Irwin’s hands, empty space becomes full. Light bathed in space is positioned to
become like solid material, yet it remains illusory and poetic.
Primarily, Irwin’s work is groundbreaking. Roberta Carasso
October 21, 2007 – February 23, 2008 (Jacobs Building)
October 21, 2007 – April 13, 2008 (1001 Kettner)
1100 & 1001 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, California
858.454.3541 • www.mcasd.org
Robert Irwin, Who’s Afraid of Red,Yellow & Blue 3, 2006. Linear polyurethane paint on 6
aircraft honeycomb aluminum rectangles. Photo by Genevieve Hanson. Courtesy
PaceWildenstein, New York. © Robert Irwin 2006/Artists Rights Society, New York.
14 Fall 2007

museums
and gets many different treatments, in gray and in color,” says James Rondeau,
the Frances and Thomas Dittmer Chair of Contemporary Art at the Institute,
and co-curator of the exhibition.“In such series as the targets, flags and maps,
we can see Johns trying to strip representation down to its essence, using
images and symbols that are highly legible and ubiquitous.”
The exhibition also includes a number of major new works never publicly
exhibited before. “Conjuring the spirit of Samuel Beckett, the paintings
Within and Beckett draw on earlier themes and methods such as flagstones
and crosshatches, making them emblematic of the way Johns has worked
throughout his career, returning to and constantly recasting what are, for him,
Jasper Johns, Racing Thoughts, 1984. Oil on canvas. Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection,
Phoenix, Maryland. Art © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photo by Jamie
M. Stukenberg / Professional Graphics Inc., Rockford, Illinois.
Jasper Johns: Gray
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
The Art Institute of Chicago possesses, in its permanent collections, a
rich selection of paintings, prints and drawings by Jasper Johns, one of
America’s most acclaimed and influential living artists. However, it was
the museum’s acquisition of Johns’ monumental Near the Lagoon, a gray painting
from his recent Catenary series, that spurred the concept for the museum’s new
Johns exhibition.
Jasper Johns: Gray investigates the artist’s use of the color gray over the
Jasper Johns, Target, 1958. Conte crayon
on paper. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew
Saul. Art © Jasper Johns/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY. Photo by Jamie M.
Stukenberg/Professional Graphics Inc.,
Rockford, Illinois.
course of his 50 year career—
from early expressions of skepticism
to conceptual expressions
void of psychological distractions
associated with certain colors. In
the process, this study of the
intellectual and emotional significance
of the color produces an
entirely new medium for appreciating
the artist’s expansive body
of work.
More than 130 pieces—
dating from 1955 to the present
and including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings from this visionary who
laid the groundwork for both Pop art and Minimalism—comprise the exhibition
that meshes effortlessly with The Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collections.“Target
is a great example of a theme that recurs throughout Johns’ career
fundamental ideas and forms,” Rondeau adds.
Organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and in cooperation with The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jasper Johns: Gray travels to the Met for a
February 5 th – May 4 th , 2008 showing following its Chicago engagement.
November 3, 2007 – January 6, 2008
111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
312.443.3600 • www.artic.edu
.Michelle Carney
Jasper Johns, Savarin, 1977-81. Color lithograph on paper. Artist's proof,
2/9.The Art Institute of Chicago, U.L.A.E. Collection acquired through
a challenge grant by Mr. and Mrs.Thomas Dittmer; restricted gift by
supporters of the Department of Prints and Drawings; Centennial
Endowment; Margaret Fisher Endowment Fund. Art © Jasper
Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Photo by Jamie M.
Stukenberg/Professional Graphics Inc., Rockford, Illinois.
16 Fall 2007

museums
Picasso. Object and Image
Museo Picasso Málaga,
Málaga, Spain
Fernand Mourlot, the master
printer who produced almost
all of Pablo Picasso’s lithographs,
once said of the vaunted artist,
“He looked, listened and did the opposite
to what he learned, and it worked.”
Indeed, Picasso was the prototype
of a visionary; he created new
artistic forms from materials that at the
time were extremely unusual: found
metal objects and cast-off materials. In the everyday shapes of bicycle handlebars
or a fork Picasso discovered new leitmotifs from which he created his unique pieces.
Picasso. Object and Image reveals his oeuvre as a whole, bringing together
60 works made with different techniques and materials, including a number
Pablo Picasso, Little Woman´s Head Crowned with
Flowers. Engraving on vitela paper. Lent from Museu
Picasso, Barcelona.
Pablo Picasso, The Crane. Bronze, fork, faucet
and plaster. Lent from Nationalgalerie.
Museum Berggruen, Berlin.
of ceramic pieces whose
presence is significant; traditionally,
Picasso’s ceramics
have been shown and studied
separately from the rest
of his work.
The show juxtaposes
Picasso’s ceramics with works
produced in other media
(painting, sculpture, drawing),
thus revealing the complex
relationships between both
lines of his vast and magnificent
artistic innovations.
As a young man, Picasso had shown an interest in ceramics but it was not until
the 1940s that his affinity for firing clay blossomed.The medium offered him new
forms of representation as well as the possibility of interpreting volumes in new
ways.There was the added challenge of working with a palette that only revealed
its true colours after the pieces were fired. Beatriz Bonduel Smith
© Murakami
The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA,
Los Angeles, California
The brightly colored, boisterous, child-like stylings of Takashi Murakami
have infiltrated the world of pop culture like those of few other visual
artists of recent years. As one of Asia’s most internationally known
artists, the Japanese-born trendsetter has made a name for himself in the world of
fashion, cartooning, and the visual arts. Murakami has blazed new trails in creating
a new visual language that gives voice to society’s struggles with sophistication versus
innocence, permanence versus throw-away, traditions versus irreverence.
Devoting approximately 35,000 square feet to the Murakami retrospective,
the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA divides its exhibition into multiple
sections: a selection of Murakami's renowned sculptural figures; a chronicle of
the artist’s development since the early 90s; an archival display room of
Murakami’s merchandise along with a fully-operational Louis Vuitton boutique
on the second floor; the debut of the monumental, platinum-leafed sculpture
Oval Buddha (2007) and a new edition of the Rockfeller Center installation
Reverse Double Helix (2003-2004); and the premiere of a new animated short
film, kaikai & kiki.
Steeped in Japanese aesthetics, Murakami’s designs reflect the flat,
swirling, bold, and colorful lines of traditional Zen drawings and Japanese
Ukiyo-e (“floating world” prints).
With links to his past and present, Murakami continues the dialogue of the
Japanese masters, no doubt surprising them with his upbeat and unlikely
approach that bypasses the formal but instills the essence of their own vision.
October 29, 2007 – February 11, 2008
152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California
213.626.6222 • www.moca.org
Roberta Carasso
October 22, 2007 – January 27, 2008
Palacio de Buenavista
Calle San Agustín 8, 29015, Málaga, Spain
34.952.127600 • www.museopicassomalaga.org
Takashi Murakami, Tan Tan Bo Puking - a.k.a. Gero Tan, 2002. Acrylic on canvas mounted on
board. Courtesy of Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris and Miami. © 2002 Takashi
Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
18 Fall 2007

museums
Richard Prince: Spiritual America
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
As a producer of some of the most innovative art in the United States
over the past 30 years,
Richard Prince remains
most renowned for the seemingly simple
act of re-photographing advertising
images and presenting them as original
works. Instigating debates over notions
of originality and the privileged status
of the unique aesthetic object, Prince
draws inspiration from popular culture
to create pieces that both embrace
and critique images steeped in the
deepest niches of genuine
Americana—the Marlboro Man, muscle
cars, biker chicks, off-color jokes, gag
cartoons, and pulp fiction.
Previous examinations of Prince’s work have focused on his role as a catalyst
for postmodern criticism.The Guggenheim’s exhibition and its accompanying
publication, however, emphasize his pieces’ iconography and ability to chronicle
and respond to current fascinations with rebellion, fame, and the illicit.
To provide a methodical survey of Prince’s career, the Guggenheim has
collaborated closely with Prince himself in organizing the show.The exhibition
shows off key works from his numerous series, including early appropriated
photographs as well as photographic series (such as Cowboys, Girlfriends, and
Upstates); painted canvases (such as Jokes, White Paintings, Check Paintings, and
Nurses); and the Hood sculptures.
With Prince’s help, the Guggenheim provides a unique environment for
a long-awaited examination of his work in the broader context of his conceptual
practice. Filling Frank Lloyd Wright’s rotunda and two adjacent galleries
with the summation of his achievements, Prince dynamically displays works of
various mediums and dates side-by-side.
This inclusive retrospective of Prince’s career emphasizes his contribution
to the development of contemporary art, presenting numerous photographs,
paintings, sculptures, and works on paper in an effort to provide a fresh and
thorough reading of his oeuvre. Tanya Paz
Richard Prince, Untitled (fashion),
1982–84. Ektacolor photograph,
unique. © Richard Prince.
New Photography 2007:Tanyth Berkeley,
Scott McFarland, Berni Searle
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
New Photography is MoMA’s annual exhibition devoted to significant
recent work in photography. Since 1985, over sixty artists from thirteen
countries have been featured in this forum at 53 rd Street’s
esteemed art institution. Following a six year hiatus, New Photography returned in
2005, featuring the works of four artists from Cuba, Holland, the United States,
and South Africa; 2006 exhibited the works of three European photographers.
This year, MoMA compiles the work of three artists from the United
States, Canada, and South Africa. Each working with a variety of techniques
and across a range of themes, the comparison of images instigates questions
about culture, history, and beauty.
Tanyth Berkeley, an American artist, contributes gripping portraits. Ranging
from transgender women to street performers to close friends, her works celebrate
an unusual (yet still piercing) beauty exhibited by the rare and unique.
Canadian Scott McFarland uses digital techniques to seamlessly combine
negatives created over several weeks and months.The result of his efforts comes
to MoMA as a series of large-scale works that delicately portrays the passage of
time. His work, while grounded in a traditional photographic aesthetic, establishes
subtle ideas about local conditions through its innovative use of technology.
South African Berni Searle questions the progressions of memory and
forgetting. Her series of photographs, About to Forget, beautifully portrays
these themes within the context of her own fractured family. Tanya Paz
September 30, 2007 – January 1, 2008
11 West 53rd Street, New York, New York
212.708.9400 • www.moma.org
September 28, 2007 – January 9, 2008
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York
212.423.3500 • www.guggenheim.org
Scott McFarland, Echinocactus Grusonii. 2006. Pigmented inkjet print. Collection of
John Rubeli, Los Angeles. © 2007 Scott McFarland.
20 Fall 2007

museums
The Gates of Paradise:
Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
For one reason or another, 500-year-old icons of art history like
Lorenzo Ghiberti’s The Gates of Paradise just don’t get out that often.
Maybe they’re too used to people coming to them (they’re pretty
famous, after all) or maybe they’re just of the fuddy-duddy nature.
Whatever the reason, for the first five-plus centuries of their existence,
the intricately sculpted, gilt bronze doors that comprise Gates stayed put in
their place of origin, affixed to the east side of the Baptistery of San Giovanni
in Florence, Italy. A quarter-century ago, they were taken down as part of a
conservation effort and placed in the nearby Museo dell’ Opera Duomo.
Now, upon completion of these conservation efforts, seven elements of
this Renaissance masterpiece—including three of the narrative reliefs for
which the gates are famous—have come to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The occasion marks the first and only time since their creation so many years
ago that the works have traveled to the United States.
The narrative panels that have made their way stateside tell the Old
Testament stories of Adam and Eve, Jacob and Esau, and David and Goliath. It
was Ghiberti’s innovative, perspectival use of space and his elegant treatment
of massing in depicting these stories that almost single-handedly placed the
artist at the forefront of the Italian Renaissance.
After the conclusion of their four-city United States tour (the Met is the
penultimate stop), the works are returning to Florence, to be reassembled in
Lorenzo Ghiberti, Adam and Eve Relief, Gates of Paradise, originally
installed in east portal of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence,
1425-52. Gilt bronze. Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Florence.
Image courtesy Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. Photograph by
Antonio Quattrone, Florence.
their original bronze framework and placed in a specially designed, hermetically
sealed case in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
One thing is for sure, then—the exhibition at the Met is an occasion not to be
missed. Because, if the last 500 years are any indication, genuine Renaissance masterpieces
like this one just aren’t the most avid travelers.
October 30, 2007 – January 13, 2008
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York
212.570.3828 • www.metmuseum.org
Fragonard
Musée Jacquemart-André,
Paris, France
An exhibition of the works
of Jean-Honoré Fragonard
in Paris cuts through the
chocolate box sweetness of the French
Rococo painter to explore his relationship
with major thinkers and writers of his day.
France still appears to have a conflicted
view of the artist whose mannered paintings
symbolized the frivolity of the aristocracy
in the dying days of the monarchy, until the 1789 revolution left his
best clients exiled or decapitated.
The bicentenary of Fragonard’s death last year went largely ignored, a situation
that the Jacquemart-André Museum has remedied with this show of
some 100 paintings and drawings lent by institutions and collectors worldwide.
The permanent collection of the museum already included a number of
Fragonard paintings such as the erotic boudoir scene The New Model.
Curator Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey has supplemented these with works
that reflect themes dear to the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment as
well as the painter’s taste for epic literature.
Though best known for candy-colored scenes of pastoral bliss, Fragonard
was fascinated with the mental processes of great thinkers, as witnessed by his
portraits of Denis Diderot and Benjamin Franklin.
In his bid to capture the moment of divine inspiration, the artist appears
torn between paying homage to these great men and piercing the mystery
of their genius. Joelle Diderich
October 3, 2007 – January 13, 2008
158 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, France
331.45.62.11.59 • www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Jean-Honoré Fragonard,Young Girl
Releasing a Bird from its Cage. Fragonard
Perfumery, Grasse. © Private collection.
Photo by Jean-Jacques l'Héritier, Nice.
22 Fall 2007

museums
Peggy Guggenheim
and the Imaginary Surreal
Arca,Vercelli, Italy
Situated in the heart of Italy’s Piedmont
region, the quaint town of Vercelli is a
bustling, somewhat unknown hamlet
about halfway between Turin and Milan. Both the
city and region are primarily known for their agriculture
and cuisine—the village lies smack in the
middle of a grand, “checkered sea” of rice paddies
(the mare a quadretti, in Italian)—yet the area is
also steeped in a rich artistic history.
And while the bulk of native Vercellian artistic
activity has long since passed—experts peg the late
medieval and early Renaissance periods as the era of
the town’s greatest artistic output—the Vercelli art
scene is seeing somewhat of a rebirth itself these days.
Among the busy, narrow streets of the town’s
center and behind a chain-link construction fence,
building crews have been hard at work placing the
finishing touches on the city’s newest cultural
attraction, dubbed simply Arca. Formerly known as
the Church of San Marco and having served as
everything from a horse stable to a market over
the last two centuries, the space is being rechristened
this fall as Vercelli’s very own art museum.
In order to create a space suitable for an art
gallery,Italian architect Ferdinand Fagnola has designed
an austere, 200-square-meter exhibition hall that has
been plopped in among the existing pillars of the
now-defunct church. A glass ceiling over the gallery
reveals for visitors an interesting juxtaposition of
styles—centuries-old gothic arches above, contemporary
walls below and, of course, whatever art happens
to be hanging on those walls.
Marcel Duchamp, Boîte-en-valise
(Box in a Valise), 1941. Leather valise
containing miniature replicas and color
reproductions of works by Duchamp;
one photograph with graphite, watercolor,
and ink additions. Peggy Guggenheim
Collection,Venice.
First in the queue of exhibitions at Arca is Peggy
Guggenheim and the Imaginary Surreal, an exhibition of
surrealist masterpieces selected by curator Luca
Massimo Barbero that draws from both the Peggy
Guggenheim Collection and the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York. Works on display
include pieces by Duchamp, Ernst, Miró, and others.
November 10, 2007 – March 2, 2008
Chiesa San Marco,
Via Galileo Ferraris,Vercelli, Italy
www.guggenheim-venice.it
The Golden Age of Couture:
Paris and London 1947 – 1957
The Victoria and Albert Museum,
London, United Kingdom
Audrey Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Princess
Margaret. The mere mention of these
names evokes impossible glamour. But
what is it that we really see in our minds eye when we
think of such society swans, either lighting up a movie
or gliding from one glittering event to another
What we mostly remember is what they wore.
We recall Audrey Hepburn in “Funny Face”wearing
a startling new suit, publicity shots of Vivien Leigh in
a luxuriant red wool two-piece, grainy black-and-white
1950s newsreel of Princess Margaret sporting that
evening jacket and skirt.
Now London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in
South Kensington is bringing together all these
Bar Suit by Dior, Spring/Summer 1947 from the Carolle line.
© Association Willy Maywald/ADAGP, Paris and DACS,
London 2007.
fairytale fashion memories of an era dubbed a
“golden age” in an extensive exhibition.
It’s hard to imagine the huge impact The New
Look—a soubriquet awarded by Time magazine for
Dior’s 1947 show—had on the public at the time.
There is a richness and luxury of a kind not seen in
Europe for almost all of the preceding decade, but
it’s possible that, to the survivors of European devastation,The
New Look was not just a description
of a fashion revolution.
Dior himself may have put his finger on it:“War
had passed out of sight, and there were no other wars
on the horizon. What did the weight of my sumptuous
materials, my heavy velvets and brocades matter
When hearts were light mere fabrics could not weigh
the body down.” Edward Ashe
September 22, 2007 – January 6, 2008
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL,
United Kingdom
44.020.7942.2000 • www.vam.ac.uk
24 Fall 2007

museums
Showa
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,
Tokyo, Japan
Although the Japanese have embraced Western customs in many
aspects of their daily lives, they still traditionally use their
Emperor’s name to distinguish historical periods and name years.
The Showa era (corresponding to the emperor known in the West as Hiro
Hito) is one of Japan’s most dramatic periods, encapsulating the country’s
rapid militaristic expansion in the first part of the 20 th century, its brutal collapse
after World War II, and then its rise from the ashes to become one of
the World’s most powerful nations. A massive exhibition currently held at
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Museum of Photography brings this era to life with no
less than 600 key works dating from the end of World War II (the 20 th year
of the era for the Japanese) to death of the emperor in 1989.
The exhibition is primarily significant for the story it tells. Organized chronologically,
it starts by displaying postwar sights that provide a stark contrast to the
present day: the buildings of Tokyo’s now-affluent neighborhoods are totally
destroyed; unnourished children wander half-naked in the streets.
Further installments of the exhibition show the dramatic rise of Japan as
it metamorphosed in the modern era. Yet, far from being an apology of
Japan’s economic success, the story is related in various subtle and nostalgic
ways—the exhibition’s images, all from the museum collection, have been
shot by some of Japan’s master photographers whose objective often is not
only to portray what they have seen but also to convey their own confusion
Ihei Kimura, Tokyo Station, 1945. Image courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
associated with the dramatic changes happening to their homeland.
Although Japanese photography is now widely recognized and celebrated
in the contemporary art world, many of Japan’s masters have rarely been
exposed in the West. Ergo, for the western visitor, the Showa exhibition
promises not only a moving introduction to recent Japanese history, but also
a fantastic lesson in the history of photography. Emmanuel Guillaud
Through December 9, 2007
Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku,Tokyo
03.3280.0099 • www.syabi.com
(Left): Shomei Tomatsu,
11:02 Nagasaki. Image courtesy
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum
of Photography.
(Right): Eikoh Hosoe, Man and
Woman 3. Image courtesy
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum
of Photography.
26 Fall 2007

museums
Showa
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,
Tokyo, Japan
Although the Japanese have embraced Western customs in many
aspects of their daily lives, they still traditionally use their
Emperor’s name to distinguish historical periods and name years.
The Showa era (corresponding to the emperor known in the West as Hiro
Hito) is one of Japan’s most dramatic periods, encapsulating the country’s
rapid militaristic expansion in the first part of the 20 th century, its brutal collapse
after World War II, and then its rise from the ashes to become one of
the World’s most powerful nations. A massive exhibition currently held at
Tokyo’s Metropolitan Museum of Photography brings this era to life with no
less than 600 key works dating from the end of World War II (the 20 th year
of the era for the Japanese) to death of the emperor in 1989.
The exhibition is primarily significant for the story it tells. Organized chronologically,
it starts by displaying postwar sights that provide a stark contrast to the
present day: the buildings of Tokyo’s now-affluent neighborhoods are totally
destroyed; unnourished children wander half-naked in the streets.
Further installments of the exhibition show the dramatic rise of Japan as
it metamorphosed in the modern era. Yet, far from being an apology of
Japan’s economic success, the story is related in various subtle and nostalgic
ways—the exhibition’s images, all from the museum collection, have been
shot by some of Japan’s master photographers whose objective often is not
only to portray what they have seen but also to convey their own confusion
Ihei Kimura, Tokyo Station, 1945. Image courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.
associated with the dramatic changes happening to their homeland.
Although Japanese photography is now widely recognized and celebrated
in the contemporary art world, many of Japan’s masters have rarely been
exposed in the West. Ergo, for the western visitor, the Showa exhibition
promises not only a moving introduction to recent Japanese history, but also
a fantastic lesson in the history of photography. Emmanuel Guillaud
Through December 9, 2007
Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita Meguro-ku,Tokyo
03.3280.0099 • www.syabi.com
(Left): Shomei Tomatsu,
11:02 Nagasaki. Image courtesy
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum
of Photography.
(Right): Eikoh Hosoe, Man and
Woman 3. Image courtesy
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum
of Photography.
26 Fall 2007

museums
Pablo Cano, Lucifer Red Diabolo, 2007. Mixed media. Image
courtesy Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami.
Karen Kilimnik; Pablo Cano:
Viva Vaudeville; Jorge Pardo
Museum of Contemporary Art
North Miami, Miami, Florida
Bonnie Clearwater retains a youthful
vibrancy about her. As one of Miami’s
most prominent art leaders, the executive
director and chief curator of MOCA (Museum of
Contemporary Art in North Miami) has led the
museum to huge success in recent years, spearheading
a number of exhibitions and programs that
have kept the museum on course with its mission
to make art accessible to a wide range of audiences.
As such, Clearwater retains a clear sense of
vision in the exhibitions she puts together. “Each
show is a part of a year-long line of thought. I don’t
treat each show independently but see it as a part
of the continuing dialogue in art,” she explains.
Starting up shortly before the finish of the
museum’s presently-running Karen Kilimnik exhibition
is a show that spotlights the playful puppetry of
Pablo Cano, whose Russian-constructivist-and-dadainspired
marionettes come to life in both an on-view
exhibition and a series of theatrical performances.
Constructed of mostly found objects and debris,
Cano’s life-size puppets pay homage to the turn-ofthe-century
Vaudeville era in both their appearance
and the show they put on; an authentic 1920s score
accompanies the marionettes’ characterization of
famous magicians, comics, dancers, singers and acrobats
from the golden age of Vaudeville.
Also on the horizon,Art Basel returns to Miami
Beach this December and MOCA will open this
important art week with Jorge Pardo.The artist creates
site-specific works that are highly fantastical in
nature. Kathryn Orosz
Karen Kilimnik • September 7 – November 12, 2007
Pablo Cano:Viva Vaudeville • October 20 –
December 29, 2007
Jorge Pardo • December 4, 2007 – March 2, 2008
770 Northeast 125th Street, North Miami, Florida
305.893.6211 • www.mocanomi.org
Hawaiian Modern:
The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff
Honolulu Academy of Arts,
Honolulu, Hawaii
After graduating from UC Berkeley with
a degree in architecture in 1931,
Vladimir Ossipoff went to Hawaii to
visit a classmate.
However, his short stay soon turned into a longlasting
residency on the islands in which he changed
the face of Honolulu’s architecture. During his sixtyyear
career, Ossipoff created a legacy of public buildings
and private residences that is the focus of
Hawaiian Modern:The Architecture of Vladimir Ossopoff,
a comprehensive exhibition opening at the Honolulu
Academy of Arts on November 28 th .
Curated by Dean Sakamoto, a Hawaiian-born
architect, design critic and director of exhibitions
at the Yale School of Architecture, the exhibition,
consisting of architectural plans, maquettes, per-
sonal memorabilia and a documentary video by
KDN Films, illuminates the Russian-born visionary’s
design philosophies that included building “green”
long before the term entered lexicons.
Although Ossipoff’s Administration Building at
the University of Hawaii, Hawaiian Life Insurance
Building, IBM Building and modern terminals at the
Hawaii International Airport have become public
landmarks, the thrust of the architect’s legacy lies in
his uniquely user-friendly private homes such as the
Pauling and Liljistrand residences. With their clean
lines and efficient interior layouts, Ossipoff’s designs
inspired the work of his peers and succeeding generations.
In California, his work is mirrored, for
example, by the tract houses of Joseph Eichler,
whose work has seen a resurgence of popular
interest as of late. Daniella Walsh
November 28, 2007 – January 27, 2008
900 South Beretania, Honolulu, Hawaii
808.532.8700 • www.honoluluacademy.org
Vladimir Ossipoff, Goodsill House, 1952. Interior
courtyard view. Wai‘alae, Honolulu, O‘ahu.
© 2006 Victoria Sambunaris.
28 Fall 2007

Lisa Holden, Reclining
CONTEMPORARY WORKS
Will be exhibiting at :
AIPAD’s Photography Show --
Miami, December 4 - 9, 2007
Wynwood Art District
And Photo LA, Jan. 9 - 13, 2008
Santa Monica Barker Hanger
Representing: Arthur Tress, Lisa Holden, Claudia Kunin, Marcus Doyle, Michael Smith, Vladimir Birgus, Stanko

museums
Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the
Empire Style, 1800-1815
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
When I see an empty throne, I feel the urge to sit on it,”
Napoleon Bonaparte confessed after the first of his many
battlefield victories. In 1804, the 35-year-old military genius
realized his greatest ambition. He crowned himself emperor of France and
ruled much of Europe.
Four of his thrones survive. One, opulently upholstered in rich red velvet
and accented with imperial emblems, is among nearly 200 works of art featured
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston this fall.Arranged thematically, the museum’s
Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style presents a comprehensive
survey of the decorative arts of late 18 th - and early 19 th -century France.
Napoleon introduced a bold artistic style based on symbols of power.“The
Empire style would become one of the grandest and most opulent in the history
of decorative arts,” says Tracey Albainy, organizing curator and Senior Curator
of Decorative Art and Sculpture in the MFA’s Europe department.“Bold, saturated
colors, costly and elaborately worked materials, and ornate decoration underline
the splendor of Napoleon’s court.”
Napoleon I on the Imperial Throne, the monumental coronation painting by
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, shows the emperor robed in ermine and velvet,
crowned like Caesar, and holding the scepter and hand of justice of Charlemagne.
(Left): Designed by Dominique-Vivant
Denon, Napoleon’s Cuirass, ca. 1805.
Brass and steel. Made by Parisian
armorers. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne, 1806, Oil on
canvas. Musée de L’Armée, Paris. Courtesy of the American Federation of the Arts.
In addition to paintings,the exhibition includes sculptures,costumes,
clocks, firearms, porcelain, silver, and furniture that
reveal the grandeur of Napoleon’s palaces.
His empress and legendary love, Joséphine, is represented
by many objects, too, including the gold embroidered
slippers she wore to her husband’s coronation, a
boudoir chair with armrests shaped like swans, jewelry,
(Right): Attributed to Jacob Frères, Gondola Chair
from Joséphine Bonaparte’s Boudoir at Saint-Cloud,
ca. 1802 - 1803. Gilded and white painted wood;
orange-red velvet embroidered with gold.
Musée des National Châteaux de Malmaison
et Bois-Préau, Ruéil-Malmaison.
and the rootwood, ebony, and gilded bronze box in which
she saved Napoleon’s love letters.
Shirley Moskow
October 21, 2007 – January 27, 2008
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts
617.267.9300 • www.mfa.org
30 Fall 2007

art date
Los Angeles
Make it an artful autumn with these three fully-planned SoCal dates By Jeffrey Head
Date 3: Harry Bertoia, Sounding Sculpture, 1970s. Promised
gift of the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation.The
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Date 1
EXHIBITION: One of the highlights of the annual
Los Angeles Asian and Tribal Art Show is
dealer Mark A. Johnson’s collection of objects
from Borneo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. November
10 – 11, 2007 at the Santa Monica Civic
Auditorium, 1855 Main Street, Santa Monica.
Information: 310.455.2886.
RESTAURANT: Always good and always crowded,
Chinois set the standard for combining Asian and
California dishes.Try the Chinois Chicken Salad or
the Grilled Lamb Chops with Eggplant. 2709 Main
Street, Santa Monica. Reservations: 310.392.9025.
SHOW: Folklórico de SMC, a World Dance
Company at Santa Monica College, showcases
international choreography under the direction of
Sri Susilowati and Judith Douglas. Susilowati’s work
carries themes of gender and ethnicity while
Douglas incorporates African and Mexican dance
styles into the program. November 9 – 11, 2007 at
Santa Monica College. 1900 Pico Blvd, Santa
Monica.Tickets: 310.434.4856.
Date 2
GALLERY: Julius Shulman's Los Angeles at the Los
Angeles Central Library features architectural
photographs from the Getty Research Institute's
Julius Shulman Photography Archive. The exhibit
gives a vintage look into the city’s residential and
commercial growth through the lens of the photographer’s
60-plus-year career. Through January 20,
2008. 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles. Information:
213.228.7000.
RESTAURANT: The Pacific Dining Car is the
city’s finest restaurant open 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. The traditional menu of steaks and
seafood, cushy seats and attentive service make
this a comfortable place to eat anytime. 1310 W.
Sixth Street, Los Angeles. Reservations:
213.483.6000.
SHOW: James Galway, sometimes called “the man
with the golden flute,” performs with the Los
Date 2:The LA Phil orchestra. Photo by Mathew Imaging.
Angeles Philharmonic. The program inlcudes:
Schubert’s Overture to The Conspirators and Symphony
No. 4,“Tragic”. December 1, 2007 at the Walt Disney
Concert Hall. 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.
Information: 323.850.2000.
Date 3
MUSEUM: Enjoy the newly installed sound sculpture
by Harry Bertoia at the Huntington
Gardens.The beryllium copper structure made of
16 matching rods stands 19 feet tall and emits gentle
tones when it sways in the wind. 1151 Oxford
Road, San Marino. Information: 626.405.2100.
Date 3: The Rose Garden Tea Room at the Huntington
Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Courtesy
Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
RESTAURANT: Take a break from activities with a
proper afternoon of English tea at the
Huntington Gardens’ Rose Garden Tea
Room. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino.
Reservations: 626.683.8131.
SHOW: Dear Brutus, a three act comedy by
Scottish writer J.M. Barrie, follows eight characters
on a mysterious midsummer night’s eve as they
undo past regrets in order to alter the course of
their lives. November 10 – 11, 24 – 30, December
13 – 16, 2007 at A Noise Within. 234 S. Brand
Boulevard, Glendale. Information: 818.240.0910.
32 Fall 2007

Bergamot Station
Robert Berman Gallery • Bobbie Greenfield Gallery • Copro/Nason Gallery • Craig Krull Gallery • Fig • Frank Lloyd Gallery
Gallery of Functional Art • Gallery Luisotti • Grey McGear Modern Inc. • Hunsaker/Schlesinger Fine Art • IKON, Ltd. • JKD Gallery
Mark Moore Gallery • Patrick Painter • Patricia Correia Gallery • Patricia Faure Gallery • Peter Fetterman Gallery • Richard Heller Gallery
Rosamund Felsen Gallery • Rose Gallery • Ruth Bachofner Gallery • Santa Monica Museum of Art • Sarah Lee Artworks
Schomburg Gallery • Shoshana Wayne Gallery • Sulkin/Secant Gallery • Track 16 Gallery • William Turner Gallery
+ many more...
2525 Michigan Ave • Santa Monica, CA 90404
Tel 310-453-7535 • Fax 310-453-1595
www.bergamotstation.com

art date
New York
Three whirlwind days of the best of the Big Apple By Diane Dunne
Date 1: Swifty’s. Image courtesy Swifty’s.
Date 1
GALLERY: Leonard Baskin: Proofs and Process at
Galerie St. Etienne features an important selection
of works by multifaceted artist Leonard Baskin.
Although Baskin’s oeuvre is sometimes seen as
incohesive, Proofs and Process’s wide-ranging sampling
of the artist’s compositions posits the notion
that there are, in fact, numerous common themes
intertwining within his porfolio. October 9, 2007 –
January 5, 2008. 24 W. 57 th Street, New York.
Information: 212.245.6734.
RESTAURANT: Forget five-star restaurants and eat
like a native at the Upper East Side’s most exclusive
and best local eatery, Swifty’s. Enjoy American
food in the most charming and welcoming décor
designed by Mario Buatta. 1007 Lexington Avenue,
New York. Reservations: 212.535.6000.
SHOW:The incredible Cirque du Soleil unveils
the world premiere of its new production, Wintuk,
an enchanting, family-oriented winter story about
a boy’s quest for snow. November 1, 2007 –
January 6, 2008 at WaMu Theater at Madison
Square Garden. 32 nd Street and 7th Avenue, New
York.Tickets: 212.307.4100.
Date 2
GALLERY: New York’s hottest art scene is shifting
from Chelsea to LES (Lower East Side),“the” place
to see and be seen; Salon 94 Freemans,
uptowner gallerist Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn’s second
and latest satellite, is the epicenter of LES happenings.
Currently, video artist Aïda Ruilova is
exhibiting her latest piece, Lulu, based on a play by
Frank Wedekind and on the opera by Alban Berg.
November 8 – December 8, 2007. 1 Freeman Alley.
Information: 212.529.7400.
RESTAURANT: One of New York’s most delectible
newcomers is Rayuela, where Executive Chef
Méximo Tejada whips up Latin American and Spanish
dishes including ceviche and tapas. Not to be missed
is the Churrasco con Cangrejo, filet mignon grilled
and served on a bed of oven-roasted Peruvian blue
potatoes, wild mushrooms, bone marrow and tetilla
fondue topped with chimichurri sauce and sprinkled
with jumbo lump crab meat. 165 Allen Street, New
York. Reservations: 212.253.8840.
Date 2: Rayuela. Photo by Bartomeu Amengual.
SHOW: Four-time Tony Award winner Tom
Stoppard rolled out a drama last year that was a hit
in London and has moved to the Big Apple with
much of the original cast, including Olivier winner
Rufus Sewell. Rock ‘n’ Roll looks at the connections
between rock music and revolution during the
years 1968 to 1990. Opens October 19, 2007 at
the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater. 242 W. 45 th Street,
New York.Tickets: 212.239.6200.
Date 3: Bridget Riley, Silver Painting (Painting with Verticals,
Cadence 3), 2006. Oil on linen. © Bridget Riley. Photo by
Joerg Lohse. Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York.
Date 3
MUSEUM: British painter and op art proponent
Bridget Riley is exhibiting Recent Paintings and
Gouaches at PaceWildenstein. Her undulating
geometric forms are recognizable worldwide and
are included in the collections of such famous
museums as MoMA, Tate, Dia Art Foundation,
Harvard University Art Museum, MOCA Los
Angeles and Walker Art Center, to name a few.
November 9, 2007 – January 5, 2008. 534 W. 25 th
Street, New York. Information: 212.421.3292.
RESTAURANT: Just below Chelsea in the
Meatpacking District is Pastis, a meeting outpost
for local galleryites. Here, Keith McNally, the
owner of Balthazar, has an informal, fairly priced
bistro that is always packed. 9 Ninth Avenue, New
York. Reservations: 212.929.4844.
SHOW: No visit to New York is complete around
the holidays without seeing the Radio City
Christmas Spectacular. This year’s show promises
to outdo all others with falling indoor snow,
dazzling new numbers kicked up by the Rockettes,
a high-flying Santa, and even fireworks. November
9 – December 30, 2007. 1260 Avenue of the
Americas, New York.Tickets: 212.307.1000.
Date 3:The Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Image courtesy MSG Entertainment.
34 Fall 2007

AD
Art and Living 35

for the art connoisseur
Special Report:The 52nd Venice Biennale
By Sophie Videment Dupouy
An interior view of the 52 nd International Art Exhibition’s Arsenale. Photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti. Image courtesy Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia.
Every two years, Venice becomes a point of
interest to many visitors not for its canals,
gilded palaces or pigeons, but rather for the
contemporary art on display in the city’s Biennale,
the world’s oldest and most prestigious international
art event.This year’s exhibition is playing host to a
number of firsts.
A First American Director
The Venice Biennale, which opened on June 10 th and
closes on November 21 st , is a 112-year-old institution
but manages to remain fresh thanks to the new minds
Robert Storr, the first American director of the
Biennale. Photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti. Image
courtesy Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia.
at its helm each time it is put on.The director chosen
to head this year’s Biennale, Robert Storr, the current
dean of the Yale School of Art, is unique in that he is
the first American ever selected for the position.
And the new head sees his role clearly.
“Biennales are a place where the general public can
come and find out what’s going on in the world and
participate in the visual culture of their time,” said
Storr. “This show is not about my ideas, but rather
one about the ideas of artists of different generations,
working in different media in many different parts of
the world, and their responses to current realities.”
36 Fall 2007

Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award Firsts
For the first time ever, the Biennale’s prestigious Golden Lion
for Lifetime Achievement award has been presented to a
photographer: Malick Sidibé. Hailing from Mali, Sidibé has
spent decades capturing the transformation of his country.
Sidibé initially began a career as a goldsmith but later
switched gears; he studied under the mentorship of
French photographer Gerard Guillat and opened his own
business in 1962.
Operating primarily from a small studio on one of the
busiest streets of central Bamako, the capital of Mali, Sidibé
has been the paramount portraitist of his city and nation
and an intimate observer of the Malian musical scene.
“Like August Sander, the great German photographer,
he has preserved the likenesses of countless individuals
while recording the face of the rapidly changing society,”
said Storr of Sidibé.“At 72, Malick Sidibé is the undisputed
master of his photographic generation. No artist
anywhere is more deserving of the 2007 Biennale of
Venice’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and none
more worthy of being the first African so honored.”
Outside view of the Biennale’s American Pavilion with Felix Gonzalez Torres’s Untitled, 1992-1995.Two
circular pools of water. Medium varies with installation. Also pictured: Felix Gonzalez Torres’s Untitled,
1994. 15 watt light bulbs, waterproof extension cords, waterproof rubber light sockets. Photo by Ellen
Page Wilson. © The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation. Image courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery.
Malick Sidibé, from L'Afrique chante contre le SIDA, 2007.
Malick Sidibé, the first photographer and first African to win the prestigious
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Art and Living 37

cover
40 Fall 2007

The Return of Cool
(Opposite): Clockwise from top left, Los Angeles-based artists Billy Al Bengston, Allen Lynch, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John Altoon, Ed Kienholz, and Ed Moses in 1962. Photo by Patricia
Faure. (Above): From left to right, Robert Irwin,Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman,Ken Price,Billy Al Bengston,and Larry Bell today. Photo by Howard Wise.
Ahalf a century ago, Los Angeles emerged from its origins in the
artistic blasé to become the embodiment of art world hip. Billy Al
Bengston, Ed Ruscha, Dennis Hopper, Larry Bell and Ed Kienholz,
to mention some of the coolest cats, threw the art world for a loop, managing
to nudge the New York crowd off its perch at the art world mountaintop.
Last year, the French staged, in rare homage to things American, a retrospective
exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris titled Los Angeles: 1955-1985; the
show welcomed hordes of visitors and was a resounding success. Back in the
states, as a number of Southland museums (three, to be exact) have undertaken
their own Los Angeles retrospectives this fall, an Angeleno filmmaker has submitted
his own portrayal of the growth of the scene’s preeminent gallery.
Clearly, Los Angeles at midcentury has come back into the limelight. In the
pages that follow, Art and Living takes a close look at the explosion of LA’s art
community, examining the how’s, when’s, why’s and what-have-you’s that 50 years
ago transformed a small circle of renegade artists into instigators of a world-class
art scene and today have brought the movement back to the forefront.
Art and Living 41

cover
On the Screen
“The Cool School” presents a cinematic take on
the explosion of the Los Angeles art world at
midcentury. Director Morgan Neville discusses
the film, its significance, and why he chose to
point his lens at SoCal By Vladimir Nemirovsky
In the late 50s and early 60s a gallery called Ferus shook up the traditionalist
landscape of Los Angeles to become the nexus of the artistic avant-garde in
California.Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism,Assemblage and Pop Art would
call it home.Among many others, Kienholz, Ruscha, Kauffman and later Warhol and
Lichtenstein made it their showplace. It defied the traditions and expectations of
the establishment in New York, cut a bold path all its own and was a major player
in the creation of a world-class art scene in LA.Today, few would dispute that,
by the time Ferus closed its doors in the mid sixties, this scene—and more importantly,
the art it produced—had changed the art world forever.
If you haven’t heard of Ferus
Gallery,you’re not the first. Despite
its monumental role in shaping the
LA art scene, by the early 2000s
the defunct gallery had become all
but a historical footnote, a La
Cienega relic lost to the sands of
time. Nevertheless, the gallery’s
tale offered an enticing opportunity
for filmmaker Morgan Neville,
whose documentary “The Cool School” celebrates the
growth of the Los Angeles art scene (via Ferus) with a
detective’s loupe for the facts and an art lover’s appreciation
of nuance. Narrated by Jeff Bridges and moving deftly
from past to present, the film offers insightful commentary
from gallery owners, art historians, collectors and
artists themselves, managing to infuse an impressive
amount of historical perspective into its 86 minutes.
“When I first started to understand the story of
Ferus, I was just amazed nobody had told it before,”
says Neville, an engaging man in Buddy Holly specs.
Morgan Neville, director of “The Cool School”.
Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
Walter Hopps, Ferus Gallery co-founder, 1957. Photo
by Charles Brittin. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
Ed Kienholz show, Ferus Gallery, 1962. Photo: Seymour Rosen. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
And choosing to tell that story proved to be a timely endeavor.The documentary
is slated for release just as several Southern California museums mount
major exhibitions showcasing the period.
“We’re now beginning to see the boomerang
effect here in LA with all these shows,” says the
filmmaker, referring to exhibitions going up in LA
this fall and other recent retrospectives, most
notably L.A. 1955-1985: Birth of an Art Capitol, put
on at Paris’ Pompidou Center last year. “The value
of the art that’s being sold by these guys in the past
five years—it’s all gone through the roof. In the four
years we were making the documentary, even in
that time…watching how the perception of LA art
changed has been surprising.”
42 Fall 2007

Conventional wisdom goes like this: Los
Angeles has no memory. It’s ugly.A cultural wasteland.
But Neville won’t buy into that—not entirely,
anyway. Contagiously curious, the native
Angeleno chooses to dig deeper.
“I’ve always been this kind of accidental apologist
for LA.,” says Neville, whose very first documentary,
“Shotgun Freeway”, was a paean to the city’s
undiscovered history.“It’s not like New York (where)
you’d walk out the door and there it is. Here you
might have to find it.You choose to find it.”
In that sense, Neville’s journey of discovery in
The Cool School is also one of kinship with the artists and
gallery owners he features. He is quick to point out his
familiarity with the SoCal landscape that so inspired Los
Angeles’ artists in the 50s and 60s. “Carwashes, coffee
shops, vernacular architecture—the building is the billboard.
LA is the ultimate high-low city,” Neville argues.
“From the ugly boulevards and the trash bins they [LAarea
artists] found something beautiful.”
As a result, says the filmmaker, the 50s and 60s
in LA were a time of intense camaraderie, competition
and voluminous exhibition. For Neville, that
“these artists operated in very different aesthetic
modes” belies the deeper connection between
them. “That commonality came down to listening to
your environment,” he says.
As with most documentaries, Neville’s storytelling
burden is one of weaving drama out of a history
lesson. The history lesson itself begins with
Walter Hopps, by consensus the visionary behind
the scene. Unlike Paris and New York, with their rich
and storied histories, LA in the 50s had little to offer
on its gallery walls past the safe reflection of its conservative
self; LACMA may have owned a Jackson
Pollock, but it remained in the stacks, well out of view.
The canvas was blank then for a small group of
disparate artists flopping under the oil derricks in
Venice or in flats in Echo Park. But Hopps changed all
that. He “was the person that brought it all together…saw
what it could be,” says Neville, echoing the
conviction of the vast majority of those with an opinion
on the subject. A romantic at heart, Hopps loved
art. No one was showing the art he wanted to see.
So, Hopps simply did it himself.
The Ferus scene began with dozens of California
artists exhibiting in near obscurity in a small gallery on
La Cienega.The time was as romantic as it was excit-
(Above): Irving Blum, co-founder of Ferus Gallery, ca. 1964.
Photo by Seymour Rosen. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
(Left): Sideyard of Ferus Gallery’s first location, 1957. Photo by
Charles Brittin. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
Art and Living 43

cover
ing. The artists—a hard-drinking, hard-working ramble
of renegades—produced art far afield of what
Los Angeles could easily accept. Nobody was interested.
The business of the art was a bust. “Hopps
couldn’t think about money. He just wanted to see
things happen. He was always supporting people to
make sure they got out there,” Neville explains.
Enter Irving Blum, Hopps’ new partner. Blum
would concentrate the artists represented by the
gallery to just over a dozen and move the gallery to
a more visible space on La Cienega’s gallery row.
Slowly, people began to take notice and became
more comfortable appreciating artists like Ed
Kienholz, whose assemblage installations the LA
Times once deemed as having “no aesthetic value.”
Soon Pop artists out of New York— Warhol and
Larry Bell, 1964. Photo by Dennis Hopper. Courtesy
Tremolo Productions.
Lichtenstein, among others—helped cement the gallery’s foothold in art history.
Few know, for instance, that Warhol’s first showing of the infamous, now-
ubiquitous Campbell’s Soup Cans premiered at
Ferus.“It’s the New York-LA thing. New York writes
our history and they aren’t willing to cede much
ground… New Yorkers don’t want to acknowledge
that things didn’t happen in New York,” he smiles.
With the documentary in the can and having
seen the movement formally recognized around the
world, Neville’s reflection on the legacy of the Ferus
scene’s success is tempered by nostalgia for a lost
romantic ideal. “To me the whole thing is in the yin
and yang of what Walter and Irving represent in the
art business: creativity and prosperity. Irving is the
template of a modern art dealer that we see today in
every art gallery,” he cites.“But you don’t see a Walter
Hopps in every art gallery, certainly not running [one]
in SoHo because they can never make the rent.”
Until recently, students at art colleges in California were told that if they
wanted to make it in the art world, they had to move to New York. “That’s
no longer the case,” says Neville. “You can be a working artist in LA and sell
in New York or around the world.”
For him, the Ferus “Cool School” played a vital role in making that reality
possible and he’s only too happy to make more people aware of it.“Ferus
planted the seed and now decades later we’re able to finally eat the fruit,”
Neville concludes.“And it tastes good.”
NOTABLE THOUGHTS FROM
“THE COOL SCHOOL”
“There is this tendency out here just to not care about art history.
That’s because we’re a young city—we’re not an old city, we’re not
surrounded by art. We don’t have to deal with our past because there
is no past.”—John Baldessari, on LA’s art scene
“It was a heart-pounding, romantic scene with all the right people…All
doing the right things…It was a daring time.”
—Ed Ruscha, on the 50s and 60s in LA
“In the late 40s, early 50s in Los Angeles…It was a wasteland.”
—Billy Al Bengston, on LA’s art scene
Billy Al Bengston, Ed Ruscha, Ken Price and Joe Goode at a prize fight, 1966. Photo by Jerry
McMillan. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
“I would say the fact that that generation—which was the first one that,
in a sense, did not leave—that’s why it’s so seminal to LA…Not just in
terms of the quality of the artists but the fact that it stayed in LA.”
—Robert Irwin, on the “Cool School” generation
44 Fall 2007

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Ferus Fetish
While Ferus was influential, it wasn’t the
only hotspot of 1960s LA. Art critic
Peter Frank explains
Everything old is new again, especially in an art world that (literally) values
its history but is always on the lookout for a good investment. So
while bidding wars erupt over obscure contemporary artists because
they come from the right school or gallery or country, whole movements and
art scenes that hardly rated a footnote ten years ago are suddenly dug out of
the basement, and artists whose phones haven’t rung since they were rotary
suddenly have to get answering machines—and e-mail, and agents, and calendars.
The cutting-edge artists of postwar Los Angeles, for instance, attracted
much attention in their day, and not just locally; many Angelenos who emerged
back then jumped from local group shows into Whitney Biennials and even
enjoyed their first one-person exhibitions in New York galleries such as Pace
and Castelli. Similarly, La Cienega Boulevard’s “gallery row” featured outlets
vigorous, sophisticated, and well-supported enough to show the latest work
from New York and San Francisco and even Europe.
So now the historians and the curators and the collectors and, inevitably,
the dealers are digging up everything and everyone they can find, not only
those whose names were household back in the day but also those who
Walter Hopps and Marcel Duchamp, Pasadena, 1962 Courtesy Norton Simon Museum of Art.
maintained respectable also-ran status. The winners then have stayed winners—the
three-Edded monster, Ruscha, Kienholz, and Moses, opened eyes
then and opens pockets now—but the other guys (and occasional gals) are
receiving new accolades. One of the artists attracting the most attention in
the Los Angeles County Museum’s SoCal show, for instance, is Norman
Zammitt, a light and space painter-sculptor whose sensitivity to gradated color
has been knocking show visitors off their feet. Additionally, Ron Davis, at one
time considered the epitome of Finish Fetish artists, disappeared down a rabbit
hole sometime in the 70s, but his current comeback has been abetted by
his similarly powerful appearance in SoCal.
At this writing, SoCal, a spectacular rummage through LACMA’s storage, has
provided the biggest look-back at what the Southland hath wrought.The Orange
County Museum of Art’s ambitious, thematically focused Birth of the Cool (not yet
Kienholz show, Ferus Gallery, 1962. Photo by Seymour Rosen. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
opened at this writing) promises to up the ante, and Pepperdine’s Weisman
46 Fall 2007

Clockwise, from right:
Pizz-O-Lover (Airplane)
2007
Steel, enamel and wood
46¾ × 75½ × 33½ inches
Guy Noir
2007
Steel and enamel
41¾ × 16 × 26½ inches
El’s Tuck ’n’ Roll at Speed
2007
Steel and enamel
42 × 20 × 32 inches
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Alan Shaffer
P E T E R
S H I R E
CHAIRS
FRANK
L L O YD
GAL LERY
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Inc.
2525 Michigan Avenue, B5b
October 20–November 24, 2007
Santa Monica, California 90404
PH: 310 264-3866
FX: 310 264-3868
www.franklloyd.com

cover
Ed Ruscha, 1962. Photo by Dennis Hopper. Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
Irving Blum, left, and Jasper Johns, right, 1962. Photo by Seymour Rosen.
Courtesy Tremolo Productions.
Museum follows suit. But the whole card game, at least the big-stakes one, got
going last year in Paris, with the Centre Pompidou’s omnibus plunge through the
late-modernist era in Southern California.The show, controversial for all the usual
reasons (slighted artists, slighted styles, slighted ethnicities,
slighted masterpieces) and a few unusual ones (artworks
falling off the wall), demonstrated to a new European art
public that artists were active in Los Angeles prior to 1990—
and when the Europeans pay attention, the Yanks (or should
we say the dollars) prick up their ears.
As the principals involved in the postwar LA scene
re-emerge, age, and leave us, the memories fog up, the
legends harden, the myths start to accrue. One confabulation
to have taken root crams the entirety of important
Los Angeles art in the 60s into the Ferus Gallery. It’s an
understandable fiction, as it’s based in fact: no gallery in
town was more central to the presentation of a fresh
local community of artists than was Ferus. Founded as an
artists’ co-op in the late 1950s under the guidance of
Walter Hopps, the gallery was responsible for airing the
work of Kienholz (a co-founder of the gallery), Moses,
Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, Billy Al Bengston,
John Altoon, Wallace Berman, Larry Bell, Kenneth Price,
and a host of other rebels and experimentalists before it
turned its sights outward and, thanks to Irving Blum, started showing New
York Pop artists—not instead but as well, providing a crucial East-West link.
Hopps and Blum were prescient presences in Los Angeles, one recognizing
Craig Kauffman, Yellow Orange, 1965. Acrylic on
plexiglass. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
© Craig Kauffman. Photo © 2007 Museum
Associates/LACMA.
that the town was producing not just its own artists but its own kinds of art,
the other recognizing that LA could maintain a give-and-take with New York
(and the world) on an equal footing.
But Hopps and Blum were not alone, and the
artists who passed through Ferus were not the only
locals who mattered, nor the only imports who rated.
Henry Hopkins—who, like Hopps, went on to a distinguished
curatorial career—had also been discovering
artists of his generation early on at the Huysmans
Gallery across La Cienega from Ferus, as had Everett
Ellin in his La Cienega-adjacent establishment. Other
galleries along La Cienega in the early-mid 60s—Felix
Landau, Herbert Palmer, Joan Ankrum, Esther Robles,
David Stuart, Rolf Nelson—brought area artists, and
often artists from elsewhere, to an enthusiastic public.
Tony DeLap, a rising abstract sculptor-painter newly
arrived from the Bay Area in 1965, for instance, was
courted by Blum and upstart Nicholas Wilder, but had
already committed to Landau. Wilder did land Joe
Goode, and showed the quasi-Pop Angeleno’s first
sculptural staircases. Charles Garabedian emerged
from the funky-figurative Ceeje Gallery at the top of
La Cienega. David Stuart, a.k.a. Primus/Stuart, featured
Bay Area sculptor Peter Voulkos and showed Dennis Hopper’s assemblages
and foam-rubber sculptures. And where did one go to see David Hockney,
Claes Oldenburg, and even John Cage Palmer—or Feigen/Palmer, as it was
48 Fall 2007

cover
beach. And then, in 1965, LACMA itself emerged, escaping its stodgy downtown
fortress and building itself a gleaming palace atop
Wallace Berman, Untitled, 1956-57.Verifax collage mounted on plywood. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.The
Kleiner Foundation Gift of Contemporary Art through the Modern and Contemporary Art Council. © Estate of
Wallace Berman. Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA.
known, the association with New York dealer
Richard Feigen serving as a pipeline to the New
York mainstream.
Those were the days, my friend, spread all
over the Boulevard—and beyond. Galleries
such as Virginia Dwan and Sylvan Simone
found neighborhoods such as Westwood and
Mar Vista more to their liking. The Pasadena
Art Museum became a hotbed of the new,
especially once Hopps took over as director,
and the little old ladies in tennis shoes ate up
Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol. Even
Orange County boasted a center for new art,
the Newport Harbor Art Museum, whiched provided a counterbalance to
the prevalence of plein air offerings at the Laguna Art Museum down the
Billy Al Bengston, ca. 1965. Photo by Patricia Faure. Courtesy
Tremolo Productions.
the La Brea tar pits, a stone’s throw from the burgeoning
La Cienega strip.
Ferus Gallery was at the very core of this energy
and, when Hopps graduated to Pasadena, the Ferus factor
started spreading across the Southland. But, again,
Ferus was first among equals—no more, no less. Only in
its first year or two of existence, as a scruffy beatnik
shack run by the artists it showed—a place for Venice
and Topanga bohemians to hang out inland before or
after hitting Barney’s Beanery—might the gallery have
been a voice clamoring in the wilderness.The La Cienega
strip staked out by Ferus’ founding fathers quickly blossomed
with galleries. Ferus was the leading man of La
Cienega, to be sure, but its co-stars—the other galleries
giving LA art, and LA collectors, a chance—were also
getting the message out. With its many art schools and
universities burgeoning with GI-Bill students, Los Angeles
was a hotbed of artistic activity even in the depths of the
Red Scare; Ferus was simply the first place this hotbed
boiled to the surface.
What made Ferus first among equals was not its proprietary
position on gallery row, but its own origins
in the initiative of artists. It began not as a
way to sell art but to show it, a place created by
young cutting-edgers shaped around their conception
of vital contemporary artistic practice
and run according to their specifications, not
those of commercial interests. The Ferus folks
didn’t give a rat’s you-know-what about what
their fellow Angelenos thought of them; they
sought only to impress one another and whoever
might come in the door a second and third
time. (When the Law walked in a second time,
however, it busted Wallace Berman on obscenity
charges.) They set the tone for a gallery scene, and an entire art scene, that
didn’t bother to follow New York’s or Europe’s examples—at least until LA
artists started showing, and selling, out of town.
50 Fall 2007

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Retrospectively Speaking
This fall, the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, Orange County Museum of Art and
the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art
at Pepperdine University have opened
retrospective shows celebrating the icons
(and subsequent legacy) of the Los Angeles
art scene’s formative years. Art and Living’s
Daniella Walsh investigates
SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s
and 70s from LACMA’s Collection
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, California
Today, many may find that what was once cutting-edge or even shocking
now seems quaint.
One prime example comes in the form of Ed Kienholz’s Back Seat
Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1968. Painted metal and metal cylinder mount. Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. Gift of the Kleiner Foundation. © 2007 Robert Irwin/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York. Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA.
Dodge ’38.When it was unveiled in 1966, the rough-hewn installation depicting
a couple having sex in the backseat of a jalopy surrounded by empty beer
bottles established its creator as a shock-jock of sorts and nearly caused
guardians of 50s-era morality to close down LACMA for exhibiting what
many branded as pornography.
Now the Dodge is making a reappearance as part of LACMA’s SoCal:
Southern California Art of the 1960s and 70s from LACMA’s Collection. While the
controversy surrounding the piece has perhaps waned, it has an even more
controversial and—given the tenor of today—relevant companion piece titled
The Illegal Operation (also by Kienholz) on display in the exhibition.
Curator Carol S. Eliel says that the show is meant to spotlight an important
component of the museum’s permanent collection and adds that she
enjoyed putting such an inclusive show together without having to fret about
lenders and all the logistical angst associated with traveling shows. She mentions
that some pieces—Ed Moses’ Ill III and a painting by Mary Corse, for
instance—have never been seen or are just emerging from long hibernations
caused by restoration issues.
She is confident that this carefully selected exhibition also including work
by Llyn Foulkes, Betye Saar, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John
McCracken, Kenneth Price and John Outerbridge will resonate with contem-
Billy Al Bengston, Hatari, 1968. Polyester resin and lacquer on aluminum. Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. Gift of the Kleiner Foundation. © Billy Al Bengston. Photo © 2007 Museum
Associates/LACMA.
52 Fall 2007

Edward Kienholz, Back Seat Dodge ’38, 1964. Paint fiberglass and flock, 1938 Dodge, recorded music player, chicken wire, beer bottles, artificial glass, and cast-plaster figures.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Purchased with funds provided by the Art Museum Council Fund. © Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz.
Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA.
Installation view, SoCal: Southern California Art of the 1960s and 70s from LACMA’s Collection. Photo © 2007
Museum Associates/LACMA.
Larry Bell, Cube, 1966.Vacuum-coated glass. Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. Gift of the Frederick R.Weisman Company.
© Larry Bell. Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA.
Art and Living 53

cover
Album cover for Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool (Capitol Records, 1957).
Courtesy Blue Note Records.
Lorser Feitelson, Dichotomic Organization, 1959. Oil on canvas. Nora Eccles Harrison
Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Gift.
© Feitelson Arts Foundation.
porary viewers.“Social mores are different now; people will see the works in
a historical context,” she says.“But today’s artists, especially collage and assemblage
artists, are continuing a dialogue with earlier works.”
And while the show is wide-ranging, Eliel reminds that the intention
behind SoCal was never to be a comprehensive summation
of the LA of the 60s and 70s. “The fact
that several other stars (such as Ed Ruscha,
John Baldessari and Vija Celmins) did not fit in
just shows how large and diverse the LA art
scene really is,” she explains, remarking that she
did not want to overload the show even though “a
curator’s eyes are often bigger than their stomachs.”
What she has achieved is a show that retains a thematic
focus and presents a series of works that look both fresh
and worthy of re-examination.
“I am excited, since we have never been able to
devote this much space to Southern California art and
to that time period before,” she smiles.
August 19, 2007 – March 30, 2008
5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
323.857.6000 • www.lacma.org
Charles and Ray Eames,
LAR Armchair, ca. 1950.
Boyd Collection. Photo by
Mario De Lopez.
Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design
and Culture at Midcentury
The Orange County Museum of Art,
Newport Beach, California
The Orange County Museum of Art has
staged what can only be described as an
ambitious undertaking—a blockbuster exhibition,
if you will. Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design
and Culture at Midcentury explores the distinctively
Californian art, architecture, design, fashion and
music that sprung forth in the 1950s and
whose influences are still strongly felt today.
While exploring these disciplines,
Elizabeth Armstrong, the museum’s chief curator,
also provides ample illumination of the period’s
zeitgeist—one that is delineated by a dichotomy
between perceived squareness and ultra
hip. Cool jazz (think Miles Davis, Chet Baker or
Dave Brubeck) and clean-lined geometric paintings by
John McLaughlin and Frank Stella provide a light antidote to the
physicality of Abstract Expressionism.
54 Fall 2007

cover
Album cover for Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool (Capitol Records, 1957).
Courtesy Blue Note Records.
Lorser Feitelson, Dichotomic Organization, 1959. Oil on canvas. Nora Eccles Harrison
Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Gift.
© Feitelson Arts Foundation.
porary viewers.“Social mores are different now; people will see the works in
a historical context,” she says.“But today’s artists, especially collage and assemblage
artists, are continuing a dialogue with earlier works.”
And while the show is wide-ranging, Eliel reminds that the intention
behind SoCal was never to be a comprehensive summation
of the LA of the 60s and 70s. “The fact
that several other stars (such as Ed Ruscha,
John Baldessari and Vija Celmins) did not fit in
just shows how large and diverse the LA art
scene really is,” she explains, remarking that she
did not want to overload the show even though “a
curator’s eyes are often bigger than their stomachs.”
What she has achieved is a show that retains a thematic
focus and presents a series of works that look both fresh
and worthy of re-examination.
“I am excited, since we have never been able to
devote this much space to Southern California art and
to that time period before,” she smiles.
August 19, 2007 – March 30, 2008
5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
323.857.6000 • www.lacma.org
Charles and Ray Eames,
LAR Armchair, ca. 1950.
Boyd Collection. Photo by
Mario De Lopez.
Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design
and Culture at Midcentury
The Orange County Museum of Art,
Newport Beach, California
The Orange County Museum of Art has
staged what can only be described as an
ambitious undertaking—a blockbuster exhibition,
if you will. Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design
and Culture at Midcentury explores the distinctively
Californian art, architecture, design, fashion and
music that sprung forth in the 1950s and
whose influences are still strongly felt today.
While exploring these disciplines,
Elizabeth Armstrong, the museum’s chief curator,
also provides ample illumination of the period’s
zeitgeist—one that is delineated by a dichotomy
between perceived squareness and ultra
hip. Cool jazz (think Miles Davis, Chet Baker or
Dave Brubeck) and clean-lined geometric paintings by
John McLaughlin and Frank Stella provide a light antidote to the
physicality of Abstract Expressionism.
54 Fall 2007

cover
Karl Benjamin, Totem Group IV, 1957. Oil on canvas. San Jose Museum of Art. Museum
purchase with funds contributed by the Oshman Family Foundation in honor of the San Jose
Museum of Art's 35th anniversary. © Karl Benjamin and San Jose Museum of Art. Photo by
Douglas Sandberg Eames.
There is interplay between the geometric linearity of hard-edged
abstraction and modern architecture as exemplified in the cool glass cubes
known as Case Study Houses. (Julius Shulman’s photographs of nearly every
modernist architectural landmark in Southern California have become
emblematic of cool in their own right.)
Armstrong says that her interest in the group of hard-edged abstract
painters working in Southern California in the 1950s laid the groundwork
for Birth of the Cool. “I was struck by how fresh and contemporary their
work looks today—50 years later,” she says, adding that, along with many
others who have taken a new interest in modern architecture and design,
she immediately recognized the formal affinities between the two disciplines
of painting and architecture.
For example, a Shulman photograph of the Frey residence echoes the
forms of a McLaughlin painting, whose lines mirror those of the steel and
glass house.
The exhibition also ties in film, fashion, music and social phenomena such
as the founding of Playboy magazine and its ethos of the idealized bachelor
life, the cultural influence of the Kennedy White House and the succession of
events that, to borrow from Don McLean, made the music die.
Made in California: Contemporary California
Art from the Frederick R.Weisman Art Foundation
The Frederick R.Weisman Museum of Art,
Malibu, California
Frederick R.Weisman was a renaissance man who was not only passionate
about collecting art but also about supporting Los Angeles
artists. “Fred felt strongly that you should buy art and, at the same
time, support artists in the community,” says Billie Milam Weisman, the
widow of the late philanthropist. .
Thus, Weisman acquired works by now-iconic artists like John
Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Mary Corse, Larry Bell, Chuck Arnoldi, Peter
Alexander and many others. And, since Weisman generously shared his collection
with the public, today numerous institutional carriers of the Weisman
name continue his legacy.There is, for example, a Weisman wing at the New
Orleans Museum of Art, a Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the
University of Minnesota (Weisman’s home state), and Pepperdine
University’s own Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. Today, Weisman’s
own collection is part of the Frederick R.Weisman Art Foundation, presided
over by Milam Weisman.
The Weisman Museum at Pepperdine is celebrating its 15 th anniversary
this year. To mark the occasion, Milam Weisman has selected 70 key pieces
from the foundation’s vast collection of LA artists. Among these artists, many
established careers during the 60s and have become a lasting influence on
succeeding generations of creators.Work by many protégés to 60s-era artists
is also featured prominently, providing an interesting opportunity for the study
of artistic heritage.
October 7, 2007 – January 6, 2008
850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, California
949.759.1122 • www.ocma.org
Ed Moses, Helix-1, 1988. Acrylic and synthetic oil on canvas. Image courtesy
Pepperdine University Center for the Arts.
56 Fall 2007

ED MOSES
MONOCHROME
NOVEMBER 9 - DECEMBER 9, 2007
CHARLOTTE JACKSON FINE ART
AT TWO VENUES:
THE CHARLOTTE JACKSON PROJECT SPACE 7511 MALLARD WAY, SANTA FE, NM 87507, TEL: 505-989-8688 CALL FOR APPOINTMENT
CHARLOTTE JACKSON FINE ART DOWNTOWN GALLERY 200 W. MARCY STREET, SUITE 101, SANTA FE, NM 87501, TEL: 505-989-8688
www.charlottejackson.com
1977 Abstract Paintings in Studio

cover
Edward Ruscha, Made in California, 1971. Lithograph. Collection of Frederick R.Weisman Art Foundation.
One of these “next generation” artists on display in the show is
Alexis Smith, who herself was student of Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman and
Robert Irwin during the 60s.“There were a lot of lineages of my generation
and the following generation that had to do with what school you
went to,” she explains.
Made in California: Contemporary California Art from the Frederick R.
Weisman Art Foundation examines some of these artistic links.The show features,
among an array of others, works by Kauffman and Smith as well as
Charles Arnoldi, John Baldessari, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Ruscha, Sam Francis,
Andy Moses,Tim Hawkinson, Larry Bell, Mary Corse, John McLaughlin and
Peter Lodato, Kaz Oshiro, Peter Voulkos, Woods Davy, Kenneth Price and
Yoram Wolberger.
“Fred believed that art is a way of building bridges between people,”
says Milam Weisman.
Ronald Davis, Wedge Wave, 1978. Acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy Pepperdine
University Center for the Arts.
August 25 – December 16, 2007
24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California
310.506.4851 • www.pepperdine.edu/arts/museum/
58 Fall 2007

Galleri s.e would like to thank
Ed Moses and Andy Moses for a great show in Norway
Galleri s.e is situated in Bergen, Norway, and has one of Scandinavias largest private showrooms
g a l l e r i s e
admin@galleri-se.no +47 55 31 57 55 www.galleri-se.no

artist profile
Interview:
Ed Moses and Larry Bell
Two Cool Schoolers discuss the nows and
thens of LA’s art scene By Erik Larson
Art and Living:What was it that kept you in L.A.
during the 50s and 60s
Ed Moses: I thought about traveling but in the 50s I was still in school until
the late 50s.Then I joined the Ferus Gallery in December of ‘57 where I was
in a group show and met all of the primary artists of the Ferus Gallery—Bob
Irwin, Larry Bell, Ken Price, Ed Ruscha coming later in 1959. And there was a
huge amount of camaraderie and competitiveness. We fed off of each other
in terms of attitude, not imagery. Everybody seemed to have their own view.
A lot of studio visits took place and we hung out at Barney’s Beanery. It was
a strong motivator when you returned from these studio visits. And that was
all very convenient because we all lived in Venice and Sawtelle.
I was in this dark hole of graphite drawings on 60–by-40-inch panels of
repeat patterns of roses based on a rose motif from an oil cloth pattern I
Ed Moses at work in his Los Angeles studio. Image courtesy the artist.
picked up in Tijuana. I made an outline around the roses and transferred it to
the working drawing surface.The second series I removed the rose imagery
and just used the patterning of the graphite. I remember working a year on
four of these panels.They were so obsessive with the repetition of the strokes.
Inadvertently they were destroyed in my garage by the gardener who hosed
the garage out and didn’t realize the water percolated up into the board and
destroyed a year’s worth of drawings.That could have been a clue; I stopped
that obsessive work but continued with the graphite marking with foldout
cutouts. LA at that time seemed the place to be.
Larry Bell: I jumped into the art scene with both feet in 1959 when I
left Chouinard. Roughly six years later I had my first one-person show in New
Larry Bell, Untitled, 1962-63. Mirrored glass, formica, chromium-plated brass. Photo
by Anthony Cuñha. Image courtesy Frank Lloyd Gallery.
York at Pace—pretty heady stuff for a kid of 25.The show was so successful
I decided to stay there in ‘65 and ‘66. I made some great friends and still have
60 Fall 2007

Ed Moses, A-4, 2007. Acrylic on canvas. Photo by Alan Shaffer. Image courtesy Frank Lloyd Gallery.
most of them.When I missed Venice Beach enough, I moved back; I missed my
beach buddy artists and peers and teachers and cheap rent.
A and L:Would you say the city of Los Angeles has shaped you significantly
as an artist
EM: No. The environment obviously has peripheral impact. A big thing has
been done about the light here. I was never particularly affected by that or
interested in that.
LB: I have had only a few studios in my 48 years of unemployment: three in
Venice and one in NY and one in New Mexico. I have been more productive
in Taos than anywhere else simply because I could control my distraction bet-
ter. After moving to New Mexico, I migrated back to LA almost every month
like a migrant fruit picker looking for some action. I have lived in the same
hotel in Venice for over 33 years and four years ago had the good fortune to
claim my old digs on Market Street back.
I learned how to work in New Mexico. I learned how to hustle in LA
and New York.
A and L: Due to the recent release of “The Cool School”, Ferus
Gallery, the now-defunct gallery of which you were once a part,
has received a lot of attention. Do you feel Ferus was the lynchpin
of the Los Angeles art world in the 50s and 60s
Art and Living 61

artist profile
EM: It certainly was a big influence and a breakaway from the more conservative
galleries at the time. We were all a bunch of rabble-rousers and
had a lot of attitude.
LB: Ferus was like a worker’s club. Everyone that was involved was very serious
about the studio activities. Everyone saw the importance of finding an
identity, a style of thinking and working that allowed the flow of new and
inventive ideas.The rules were simple: one had to work all the time and not
copy his or her peers. We watched each other's identity appear. I never really
thought of Ferus as doing something extraordinary; I only thought of myself
being fortunate to hang in the company of peers and pals—all artists who
were doing something extraordinary.
A and L:When did it first occur to you that Los Angeles was “on
the map”, artistically speaking
EM: Well actually I never felt it was on the map. New York seemed to be the
place. It was sort of the disseminator of so-called art activity.The exhibition at
the Pompidou and the positive follow-up on that has been surprising.
LB: When I came back from New York in ‘66 I realized that my LA trip was
Ed Moses, Down-Broz #1, 2006. Acrylic on canvas. Photo by Alan Shaffer. Image courtesy
Frank Lloyd Gallery.
bigger than I thought. It was bigger than anyone really thought. Being in New
York also gave me the opportunity to push the works of pals with my New
York dealer and several became associated with Pace because of it.The scene
had changed for us all but we were only beginning to realize it. Many great
characters opened galleries in LA: Nick Wilder, Everet Elen, David Stuart et al.
There were great parties, collectors started to come around and the scene
became full of events.
A and L:What do you miss most about Los Angeles’ art scene of
the 50s and 60s
Larry Bell with cube at Jacobson Howard Gallery, New York City, 2005.
Photo by Jennifer Lynch.
EM: Nothing. It is always the same. A different group of players.The original
group are all off doing our own activities although we do socialize from
time to time.
62 Fall 2007

Larry Bell, Ghostbox, 1962-63.Vacuum coated, mirrored, and sandblasted glass; acrylic on canvas. Photo by Larry Bell Studio. Image courtesy Frank Lloyd Gallery.
LB: The only thing I miss about “the good ol’ days” is John Altoon and the
cheap rent of Venice. We all moved there because it was cheap, not because
it had some creative magic! It was cheap and near the beach.What more does
any artist need except for action, sex and drugs In lieu of action, there was
cheap rent and great weather.
A and L: How has the Los Angeles art scene changed since the 60s
EM: More galleries. More press. A whole series of amazing young artists.
LB: When Ferus closed just about all the artists were fed up with it. The
focus had changed to the celebration of a bigger art world rather than
the insights of a band of rascals on the beach, and not all of us lived at
the beach.
A and L:What one thing should readers today know about the Los
Angeles art world of the 50s and 60s
EM: We were young. We were aggressive, ambitious and had particular
visions and mutations that continue. Most of us are still alive and some aren’t.
LB: Probably the most significant visual for me in the film [“The Cool School”]
was the few seconds of film of Venice Beach and the canals when the oil wells
were there. It’s hard to imagine now what a great slum Venice was in those
days; truly it was an “Appalachia by the Sea.”
A and L: Is there anything else you’d like art fans to know
EM: Keep on looking—less reading, less talking, and more looking.
LB: My work is all I have that I trust.
Art and Living 63

Larry Bell, Ghostbox, 1962-63.Vacuum coated, mirrored, and sandblasted glass; acrylic on canvas. Photo by Larry Bell Studio. Image courtesy Frank Lloyd Gallery.
LB: The only thing I miss about “the good ol’ days” is John Altoon and the
cheap rent of Venice. We all moved there because it was cheap, not because
it had some creative magic! It was cheap and near the beach.What more does
any artist need except for action, sex and drugs In lieu of action, there was
cheap rent and great weather.
A and L: How has the Los Angeles art scene changed since the 60s
EM: More galleries. More press. A whole series of amazing young artists.
LB: When Ferus closed just about all the artists were fed up with it. The
focus had changed to the celebration of a bigger art world rather than
the insights of a band of rascals on the beach, and not all of us lived at
the beach.
A and L:What one thing should readers today know about the Los
Angeles art world of the 50s and 60s
EM: We were young. We were aggressive, ambitious and had particular
visions and mutations that continue. Most of us are still alive and some aren’t.
LB: Probably the most significant visual for me in the film [“The Cool School”]
was the few seconds of film of Venice Beach and the canals when the oil wells
were there. It’s hard to imagine now what a great slum Venice was in those
days; truly it was an “Appalachia by the Sea.”
A and L: Is there anything else you’d like art fans to know
EM: Keep on looking—less reading, less talking, and more looking.
LB: My work is all I have that I trust.
Art and Living 63

|

the art of the craft
An Artist’s Wizard
For decades, Jack Brogan has been the go-to
guy for help in realizing the grand ambitions
of many of the Southland’s top artists
By Daniella Walsh Photos by Steven Barston
Aquick Google search for the words “Jack Brogan” will bring up a
couple of different individuals. One Jack Brogan is a romance novel
hero, fictional in nature, and no doubt a true Casanova.The other
is a hero as well, yet not necessarily in the same vein.
This Jack Brogan, a lanky 77-year-old jack of all trades, is something of a
folk-hero in the Los Angeles art community—to many an artist, he is a wizard
who can transform a whim of creativity into physical reality or come to
the rescue when a project has hit an unexpected snag. It’s thus safe to say
that some artists’ careers have been built on their vision and Brogan’s practical
know-how.
A man of few words, the Tennessee transplant (a touch of Southern
drawl has remained) maintains a cavernous workshop along a nondescript
strip of West Boulevard in Los Angeles. Strictly utilitarian in nature, the space
is a research lab, a hospital for damaged works of art, and an inventor’s lair
presided over by someone whose lexicon lacks the words “can’t” and “impossible.”There,
Brogan even makes his own tools and has modified nearly every
piece of machinery in the shop to his own specifications.
Jack Brogan in his Los Angeles workshop.
“Artists started to come to me in the early 70s,” he says, surrounded by a
plethora of raw materials and unfinished projects.“They would get an idea and
ask me to do a feasibility study and then also manufacture the piece.” His first
collaborations involved the Ferus Gallery crowd; Robert Irwin, Peter Alexander,
Helen Pashgian and Larry Bell, to name a few icons, all sought his counsel.
Despite his creative nature and the number of world-famous projects he
has worked on, Brogan is adamant that he is not an artist.“I like art. I took some
figure drawing classes in college and really enjoyed them, since we got to sketch
a lot of voluptuous naked ladies,” he grins.“But I gave it up for lack of time.”
Recently, Brogan worked with Irwin on a set of honeycomb aluminum
Many of the tools and pieces of machinery Brogan uses in his workshop are modified to
his own, art-dictated specifications.
panels finished in primary-colored polyurethane for Irwin’s current retrospective
at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.There, the panels have
66 Fall 2007

Panels from Robert Irwin’s Who’s Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue3 await installation.
been assembled to form a larger version of an installation originally displayed
at PaceWildenstein in New York, titled Who’s Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue3.
Yves Klein’s Nude Torso under repair in
Brogan’s workshop.
The pieces suggest a return to
Irwin’s light and space days.
Brogan was trained as a cabinetmaker
but is self-taught in everything
that has come after. His skills—
which he describes as his own
brand of “practical engineering”—
have evolved over nearly five
decades. It all began in 1959 when
he ran a repair shop for antique furniture
and adult games (meaning
parlor toys not necessarily meant
for children) out of a Venice garage.
He studied engineering at the
University of Tennessee but did not
earn a degree.Yet, his resumé, were
he to keep one, would show stints as a tool and dye maker, a chemical control
analyst, participation in NASA projects (he built a model of a space station,
among other things) and aerospace assignments under the aegis of
Lockheed and Boeing.
A large percentage of Brogan’s business lies in repair. Today, he counts a
set of red, yellow and blue painted goblets by John Eden and a set of reassembled
brass plates by Roy Lichtenstein among current projects, along with a
graceful blue—albeit slightly nicked—nude torso by Yves Klein and a cracked
Larry Bell cube that was dropped off a forklift and now needs a new panel.
The technician says that he no longer works on public art pieces and
thinks of slowing down. “I won’t retire,” he clarifies, however.
His problem remains though that there are very few others capable of
acting as an artists’ gray eminence of such caliber, and a new apprentice has
not materialized.Yet, one might wonder what exactly slowing down means to
someone who has invented and patented (but not sold) a copper gizmo that
is supposed to save gas and who is also in the process of crafting a new strainer
for his coffeemaker because the one supplied by the manufacturer is less
than satisfactory.
Brogan is, after all, a unique figure in the art world whose role as a trueblue,
make-it-happen individual is best clarified by Doug Chrismas, founder of
Ace Gallery Los Angeles.“Artists come to him with an idea and a desire,” says
Chrismas. “Jack helps the artist figure out how to make the desire real.”
Jack Brogan among his numerous projects.
Art and Living 67

March 27–30 2008
ALTMAN BUILDING
135 WEST 18th STREET at 7th Avenue
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laartfair@earthlink.net
www.laartfair.com

FEBRUARY 8–10, 2008
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To benefit
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HONORARY CHAIRMEN:
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CHAIRMEN:
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Neil Becker - New World Antiquities
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Chinalai Tribal Antiques / Claes Gallery / CMG Books
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Joel Cooner Gallery / Cathryn Cootner
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Robert Dowling / Earl W. Duncan / Arthur W. Erickson
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Yann Ferrandin / Galerie Flak
Bruce Frank Primitive Art / Joseph G. Gerena Fine Art
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Huber Primitive Art / Hurst Gallery / Indoarts / Jewels
Mark A. Johnson / Langauer Textile Art
Alain Lecomte / Arthur Leeper / Alberto Levi Gallery
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the art of architecture
Three Fell Swoops
With three new archival acquisitions under its belt, the Getty Research Institute has poised
itself at the vanguard of architectural scholarship By Morris Newman
important centers of scholarship for 20 th century
architecture in California.
Koenig (1925-2004) was one of a number of Los
Angeles-area architects, including Craig Ellwood, to
become obsessed with the potential for attaining formal
perfection in steel-and-glass houses. Continuing to work
in a modernist style long after its popularity waned, he
lived long enough to see his work come back into fashion,
in part because of the fame of Julius Shulman’s nowiconic
1960 image of the Stahl House (also known as
Case Study House No. 22) cantilevered fearlessly off a
Los Angeles hillside. Koenig embraced the artful minimalism
of Mies van der Rohe while often choosing to punctuate
his own self-effacing style with dramatic gestures,
such as picturesque siting or carefully framed views that
add a romantic layer to his severe style.
Pierre Koenig, Iwata House (Monterey Park, California), 1968. Gelatin silver print.
Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
We’ve had some very pleasant surprises,” says Wim de Wit, curator
of architectural collections for the Getty Research Institute
in Los Angeles, as he sorts through a group of architectural
drawings arranged on a table in a small room at the institute’s mountaintop aerie.
Among the drawings, all by the late Pierre Koenig, is a large number of
black-and-white presentation renderings of steel houses from the 1950s and
60s.The architect, who maintained a small office, made his own presentation
drawings in a wiry, pen-and-ink line that sometimes recalls the work of caricaturist
Al Hirschfeld. Like many of Koenig’s works, the drawings evoke the
1950s and the belief in a perfectible world.
Koenig’s papers are among the three extraordinary archives acquired
recently by the Getty Research Institute, the research arm of J. Paul Getty
Trust. With the addition of the archives of John Lautner and photographer
Julius Shulman, the institute becomes, in three fell swoops, one of the most
Pierre Koenig, Rendering from the Getty’s Pierre Koenig Papers and Drawings,
ca. 1950-2000. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
70 Fall 2007

As he examines the archives, de Wit
explains,“We see Koenig returning to rework the
same problem over and over again: what is the
best way to design a building in steel and glass”
Much is to be learned looking over the
Koenig archives, says the slender, bespectacled
curator. Among the papers are plans for an
unrealized project to create housing for members
of the Chemehuevi Tribe of Native
Americans, who live in the desert near Lake
Havasu on the California-Nevada border.
Executed in the 1970s, the schemes seem
prophetic in their use of strategies for natural
cooling—the long overhangs of the building are
meant to block the sun, while the orientation of
the houses, as well as the location of windows,
maximize the effect of prevailing breezes.
So new is the Getty’s other recent architectural
acquisition—the archive of John
Lautner—that the papers that comprise the
collection were literally arriving on the day Art
and Living visited the Getty Research Institute.
Lautner (1911-1994) was a student and
later an assistant to Frank Lloyd Wright. After
settling in Los Angeles in the late 1930s, the
John Lautner, Stevens House (Malibu, California), 1969. Gelatin Silver Print. Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
architect worked on a series of commercial
buildings and houses. As idealistic and
uncompromising as his teacher, Lautner designed houses that were often De Wit, who says he had a quick look at the Lautner material before it
premised on bold engineering ideas, most famously in the Chemosphere arrived at the Getty, reports that all phases of design of many Lautner projects
House, which boasted an octagonal living space balanced atop a concrete are represented in the papers, including some of the original ideas sketched out
tower and nestled on a steep slope.
on yellow trace paper.
Lautner also loved technological gadgets, such as the giant turntable As important as the Koenig and Lautner archives are to scholars, the acquisition
of 250,000 photographs by Julius Shulman may be the greatest prize of all.
beneath the Carling House, capable of repositioning the living room into an
outdoor patio or, as in the Goldstein House, where the glass walls of the master
bedroom slide away, leaving no separation between the realm of the who has been working since the mid-1930s, is probably the single most impor-
The complete set of negatives and prints by the nonagenarian photographer,
boudoir and the secluded hillside below.
tant source of historic information about modern architecture in Los Angeles.
Art and Living 71

the art of architecture
John Lautner, Malin House “Chemosphere” (Los Angeles, California), 1961.Transparency. Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
(Above): Pierre Koenig, Rendering of Case Study House No. 21 (Los Angeles,
California), 1958. Front façade. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust. (Right): Pierre Koenig,
Case Study House No. 21 (Los Angeles, California), 1958. Gelatin Silver Print. Photo by
Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
72 Fall 2007

Pierre Koenig, Rendering of Koenig House (Los Angeles, California), 1985.
Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
While Shulman and many of his images are justly famous, there
are actually a few surprises in the Shulman archive, says Christopher J.
Alexander, the Getty’s associate collections curator.
Best known for working in Southern California, Shulman also shot
images in 48 states. And beyond the familiar images of Neutra designs
and those of other modernists, Shulman photographed industrial buildings
like oil derricks and refineries. Landscapes, such as the 1940s-era
open bean fields where Los Angeles International Airport would eventually
be built, also are typical of the photographic records he kept.
In short, the Shulman archive may turn out to be more than an
assortment of high-brow architectural photographs, as it provides a
record of all types of construction and land use in the Los Angeles
region over the course of a half century or more.
What impresses Alexander the most, he says, is the consistent
quality of Shulman’s images. Like Edward Weston, Shulman apparently
does not like to crop his work. Out of 70,000 or so black-and-white
(Top right): Pierre Koenig, Case Study House No. 22 (Los Angeles, California), 1960.
Gelatin silver print. Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
(Above): Pierre Koenig, Case Study House No. 21 (Los Angeles, California), 1958.
Photograph. Photo by Julius Shulman. Image courtesy J. Paul Getty Trust.
images that represent much of the photographer’s day-to-day work,
“you see very few exposures, if any, with X’s marked through them,” he
says. The photographer, adds Alexander, “would typically shoot ten
images on a given job, and all ten are keepers.”
Art and Living 73

the art of architecture
Julius Shulman’s Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Central Library, Getty Gallery, Los Angeles, California
At 96, Julius Shulman has seen a lot.But, of course, it’s not about
what he’s seen that makes him such a significant figure—it’s
what he’s captured on film. Over his seventy-plus year career
as a photographer, he’s taken a sizable number of pictures, to say the least.
And many—though not all—were taken right here in Los Angeles.
In fact, the store of photographs that makes up the Getty
Research Institute’s Julius Shulman Photography Archive (Shulman
bequeathed his prints to the Getty in 2005) is arguably one of the
largest resources historians have at their disposal in chronicling the
development of the physical urban fabric of Los Angeles.
Throughout the 20 th century, Shulman always had his camera pointed
towards LA’s future, so to speak. He chronicled not just the big, innovative
developments that have become ingrained in the Angeleno sense of
place—Bunker Hill, Century City, LAX,Wilshire Boulevard—but also composed
numerous shots that captured the SoCal phenomenon of the single-
Julius Shulman in his Los Angeles home. Photo by Steve Barston.
family home and reflected the overall architectural optimism of Los Angeles in the Postwar era.
In a move that complements the forward-looking nature of Shulman’s oeuvre, Julius
Shulman’s Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Central Library presents renderings of current
urban developments alongside prints from the Getty’s Shulman Archive so that visitors can
compare the photographer’s historic perspectives with images of Los Angeles’ future.
It’s a much different future that Shulman himself recognizes as Los Angeles looks forward
into the 21 st century. At his Raphael Soriano-designed residence in the Los Angeles
hills, the photographer remarks that it is almost impossible today to build new modernist
homes like those he has photographed over the years because the city has become too
populous and people are clamoring for privacy. “You can’t build modern houses that offer
little privacy on 50-foot lots,” he says simply.
October 6, 2007 – January 20, 2008
630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, California
213.228.7000 • www.lapl.org
Julius Shulman’s work is also featured in the collection of Craig Krull Gallery.
Craig Krull Gallery, Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Avenue B3, Santa Monica, California
310.828.6410 • http://www.artnet.com/ckrull.html
Julius Shulman, Bullock’s Wilshire Department Store, Los Angeles, California,
1969. Architects: Donald B. Parkinson (Donald Berthold) and John
Parkinson. Gelatin silver print. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission.
Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty
Research Institute.
74 Fall 2007

SPACE IS THE NEW LUXURY.
Los Angeles 626.445.1044 Orange County 949.673.9587 www.finton.com

the art of design
Goddess in the Details
Sally Sirkin Lewis of J. Robert Scott cultivates beauty in simplicity
By Morris Newman
Art mingles with Lewis’ designs in a Stinson Beach, California in-home library. Photo by Tim Street-Porter.
Ican’t be all things to all people,” confides Sally
Sirkin Lewis, sitting gingerly on a sofa of her own
design in the Melrose Avenue showroom of
international home furnishings retailer J. Robert
Scott.“I realize that we have a limited market.”
Nor does Lewis want to be a follower. “I don’t
like to do what everybody else does,” she says. “If I
heard that one of my pieces looked like somebody
else’s, I would take it off the floor.”
Those words may sound surprising coming
from a designer who has built a worldwide following
by producing furniture, fabrics and decorative
objects that co-exist happily with nearly everything.
A slight and slender woman, she is dressed
this morning in tailored tan trousers and a form-fitting
black blouse with subtly constructed shoulders,
set off by a gold brooch that resembles an
explosion of tiny blocks.
Founded 36 years ago by Lewis and her former
husband, J. Robert Scott has grown from a single
small showroom in West Hollywood to a global
company with representation in 23 cities and 14
Sally Sirkin Lewis. Photo by Jim McHugh.
76 Fall 2007

Lavish textiles accentuate the bedroom of a Stinson Beach, California residence. Photo by Tim Street-Porter.
Art and Living 77

Luna Cabinet. Photo by Christopher Dow.
countries around the world. Places like Hamburg,Auckland,Taipei and Cairo are
all on the register of J. Robert Scott locales; Russia alone has two showroom
locations. One of the most productive, she says, is the London showroom. “It’s
only 1,500 square feet, but it’s very active because all international sales are
managed through that location,” she says.
As a designer, Lewis likes a mix of styles.“I love putting a stainless steel table
with period chairs. It’s beautiful,” she says. An avowed modernist, she will often
take an antique style as a point of departure and progressively remove nonessential
elements until she arrives at a much more minimal piece that still manages
to retain a clear familial resemblance to Hepplewhite or Louis Quinze or
another classic type of design.
Lewis continues to be the principal designer and idea source for J. Robert
Scott, where fabric collections are a current preoccupation. One textile collecthe
art of design
Eve Sofa. Diamond-tufted inside back, arms and seat. Upholstered in J. Robert Scott’s Superskidskin with brushed aluminum
high heel-style legs. Photo by Christopher Dow.
tion, The Venetian Collection, she says was inspired by the ancient palazzi along
the Grand Canal in Venice.Another, Elefant, is inspired by the many colors of the
skin of its namesake. “I love the skin of elephants, and I love the animals themselves,”
Lewis says.
She is forthcoming with her personal tastes.“I like simplicity,” she says firmly.“I
don’t like tricks or gimmicks.” Among architects, she likes the “classic modernists”—Le
Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. “I love designing around their
furniture,” she explains, adding that she likes all kinds of furniture except for High
Victorian. (She can appreciate French Empire, as long as there isn’t too much of
it.) Among living architects, her favorite is Tadao Ando, the Japanese designer of
the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth,Texas. Among painters, Lewis admires
Lucio Fontana, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Ad Reinhard, Adolf
Gottlieb and Morris Louis.
For Lewis, life (and design) are in the details.“My mother imbued me with
Elefant fabrics from the Deep Tones collection.
78 Fall 2007

the art of design
the sense of quality,” she says. “Quality goes from the outside in,” she remembers
her mother saying. “You don’t want to wear a fine gown and have torn
undergarments underneath.” In other words, the internal structure of furniture
must be as sound as the outside is good-looking.
Lewis also likes the manufacturing process, which she explains could be
seen as an extension of a furnishing’s design phase. “If I see something I don’t
like in the factory, I don’t blame others. I take responsibility for it myself,” she
reveals.“I get down on the concrete floor with the guys and we sketch out the
detail. It’s great fun.” In the showroom, Lewis points to the base of a sofa, which
has a slight, almost undetectable, concave curve on its narrow side that prevents
the furnishing from looking heavy and slab-like.
“That’s what I mean by details,” she says.
Despite her prodigious knowledge of design, marketing and fabrication,
Lewis has little formal training. Her family background—grandfather a dress
designer, father an engineer, mother an artist—and its atmosphere of elegance
were her greatest influences, she says.“I am absolutely the product of my envi-
Lewis furnishings overlook the Pacific in the study of a Malibu, California home.
Photo by Mary E. Nichols.
ronment, with its gorgeous taste, pin-striped suits for men and beautifully
designed clothing for women,” she reveals with a sense of nostalgia so strong
that the era of her childhood becomes almost palpable.
Much of her knowledge comes from working with architects directly—
preparing finish schedules and so forth. It has been these experiences, she says,
that have given her an appreciation both of design and the real-world discipline
of putting things together.“I know how to design the wiring for a 10-story building,”
she says, clearly delighted by the fact.
Nearly all of J. Robert Scott’s furniture and home furnishings are made in
the company’s factory in Inglewood, California; only fabrics are imported. One
of the few major furniture makers who still manufactures stateside, Lewis says
it is critical to stay involved in the process. She explains she has turned down
multiple requests to have her designs executed in China. “I’ve never been willing
to succumb,” she says. “I could get the work done for less in China, but I
couldn’t be there to check the quality, and I won’t sacrifice that.”
And there seems to be no slowing down for the designer.“I am constantly
Lewis’ designs populate the sitting area of a master bedroom in a Los Angeles condo.
Photo by Tim Street-Porter.
planning and designing. New ideas come to me so fast; I am always drawing
something new,” she happily affirms.“I’m lucky—I’m doing what I love.”
80 Fall 2007

BARAKAT
405 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210 310.859.8408
58 Brook Street, London W1K 5DT 44 (0) 20 7493 7778
www.barakatgallery.com info@barakatgallery.com

the art of design
Cheryl Rowley: Composing the
Poetry of Place
By Morris Newman
(Top): Rowley’s lobby of Hotel Monaco, Washington, D.C. (Bottom):
A Rowley-designed living room of a suite at Hotel Sofitel, Los Angeles,
California. (Opposite):The lobby of Hotel Palomar, San Francisco,
California. Photos by David Phelps.
Cheryl Rowley. Photo by
David Phelps.
Ihate tan,” says Cheryl Rowley, evenly and
firmly. She’s not kidding. To Rowley, tan
means overcautiousness, conventionality
and the mediocrity of playing it safe in
design—all the things, in short, that Rowley
is not.
Pushing the boundaries of interior
design has its rewards, especially in the wellcapitalized
hotel industry. Twenty-two years
after opening her own firm, the Southern
California native has projects literally all over
the world: Mexico, the Caribbean, both sides of the US, and a mystery project near
Scandinavia. Currently on the boards are the Hotel Regis in Costa Rica, a hotel on
Waikiki in Hawaii, Epic Hotel and Residences in Miami and a Hotel Palomar in
Westwood, California.
The chief executive of Beverly Hills-based Cheryl Rowley Design is a serious
woman. She is also attractive, with disarming, gray eyes and silvery hair that curls
gently down either side of her face. She looks good, her tone is modulated, and
she’s under control. She brings to mind a line from Bob Dylan: “She’s got everything
she needs, she’s an artist, she don’t look back.” And she does not gush or
divulge much personal information. But why should she She conveys an atmosphere—and
atmosphere, after all, is one of her primary gifts.
She also looks a little preoccupied. Beneath it all, her mind seems to move very
quickly in the silences between her answers and in the time it takes an interviewer
to form the next question. Her shop is hopping this morning. Deadlines loom on
several projects, and her staff of 35 people is talking quickly and rushing around.
Those deadlines are so short, in fact, that staying cool may be harder work than it
looks. Notwithstanding, Rowley keeps a composure about her.
A glance at her recent work reveals very quickly why her firm is in such
demand.As Rowley herself likes to point out, she likes to design boldly, pushing the
sometimes-conservative taste of the hotel industry into hitherto-unseen colors,
textures, images, and well-chosen contrasts. She dares materials and colors to
82 Fall 2007

the art of design
in Arlington,Virginia. Using a kind of one-to-one exchange of modern counterparts
for heirloom objects, Rowley is able to evoke New England subtly,
without gewgaws or antiques. To summon up a sense of Yankee handicraft,
Rowley has included a Georgian-inspired end table and pearl-gray satin
drapes.A zebra-striped pillow adds an exclamation point to the bedding, while
faux-leopard-skin-upholstered chairs recall the Great White Hunter motif in a
lighthearted, post-colonial way.
Although she works at all scales, Rowley says small hotels remain among
her favorite projects “because they’re on a residential scale.”
Inspired by her stepfather, a designer as well, Rowley traveled to Europe
after college and worked in the Caribbean. She was a project designer for the
famed James Northcott for several years, before opening CRI in 1986.
She asks politely if there are any further questions. Before leaving, she repeats
one of the basic tenets of her firm.“We believe in being fearless,” she asserts.
Given the inviting nature of her design work, let’s hope she stays that way.
A suite at Hotel Monaco, Washington, D.C. Photo by David Phelps.
clash, and somehow they don’t. Possessed of a sure taste, she pushes design
ideas to the limit, but never beyond.
The paramount idea is always about capturing the sense of place, she says.
During her early years in the profession, she recounts,“I learned how important
it is to design for a place—being very sensitive to the essence of that place—and
letting that essence shine through in the creation of spaces.”That concern with
place, she adds, is “at the heart of what we do.”
The evocation of place reigns at the San Francisco Palomar, a Rowley project
finished in 2000.The lobby of the Union Square hotel could almost be a recreation
of a surrealist painting by Giorgio de Chirico.A diagonal metal grid covers
a dark wooden reception desk.That grid combines richly with the illusionist
pattern of the wooden floor, which could be mistaken for a row of three-dimensional
blocks.A solitary green sprig of plant life adds a hint of nature, while a side
table with an inset golden frame recalls historic furniture without being an actual
antique. In short, the San Francisco Palomar lobby is a pleasant clash of patterns
and symbols that seems apt for this multicultural city.
A very different sense of place can be found in the Palomar Waterview
Rowley’s open-air designs at Hotel Palomar, Dallas,Texas. Photo by David Phelps.
84 Fall 2007

the art of the chef
Philanthropy from the Kitchen
In New York and Los Angeles, two gatherings of culinary masters remind that the art
of the chef is not only about the food—often, it’s about giving back By Victoria Charters
Joachim Splichal’s Berry Dessert. Image courtesy Patina Group.
86 Fall 2007

Los Angeles:The 25 th Annual American Wine &
Food Festival Participating Chef:Wolfgang Puck,
Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc.
On the West Coast, a lineup of some of the nation’s
most prominent chefs converged upon Universal
Studios, Hollywood on September 29 th to celebrate the
25th anniversary of the American Wine & Food Festival.
This star-studded gathering of internationally celebrated
chefs and fine wine and spirit purveyors was open to
the public and featured live music, a silent auction and
an epicurean feast of signature dishes.
“We started this event in Los Angeles in 1982,”
recounts Wolfgang Puck, the event’s creator and a
major force behind it to this day. “We got together
and said, ‘why don’t we create something where we
have different chefs working together to support a
charity’ We picked Meals on Wheels.”
Wolfgang Puck’s Tuna Tartare on Sesame Miso Cones. Photo by Steve Brinkman.
(Left):Wolfgang Puck outside his famed Spago Beverly Hills. Photo by Alex Berliner. (Right): Joachim Splichal.
Image courtesy Patina Restaurant Group.
And 25 years later, Puck is still more than effervescent about his
event. “It is the mother of all food and wine festivals,” he says, citing
the watershed nature of the dinner. “25 years ago people didn’t talk
about American food like they do now.”
Since its inception in 1982, the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable
Foundation, headed by Puck and designer Barbara Lazaroff, has supported
the American Wine & Food Festival, raising more than $13
million for the Los Angeles chapter of Meals on Wheels, an organization
that serves thousands of meals each day to Los Angeles’ homebound,
senior and disabled citizens.
Inspired by his mother Maria, a hotel chef, the Austrian-born Puck
began his formal training to become a classically trained French chef
at age 14. Los Angeles welcomed Puck in his twenties, when he
became chef and part-owner of Ma Maison, a magnet for the rich and
famous and, later, Spago. His first signature dishes—such as gourmet
pizzas topped with smoked salmon and caviar and Sonoma baby lamb
with braised greens and rosemary—put him on the map. Puck is part
of a wave of chefs changing the way Americans eat by seeking out the
highest quality ingredients and then combining formal French cooking
techniques with Californian and Asian-fusion aesthetics.
Following the success of Ma Maison and Spago, Puck continued
to open a string of signature restaurants in multiple cities—Chinois,
Postrio, Granita, Cut, and the Wolfgang Puck American Grille.
Art and Living 87

the art of the chef
Equally impressive is his extensive catering and events business, most notably
the annual Governors Ball following the Academy Awards. A man with his finger
in many pies, Puck has extended his culinary hand to casual, express restaurants;
consumer products including packaged foods, beverages and cookware; book
publishing; and an assortment of television, radio and internet programming.
Yet, in spite of his mammoth success, Puck explains that he still gets his
primary inspiration from his ingredients.“I still go to the farmers’ and fish markets
to see what is there. I buy the best ingredients and enhance them with
exciting flavors,” he reveals.“We want people to live better; we buy humanely
treated animals and organic produce.”
So what of this year’s incarnation of the American Wine & Food Festival
Guests were treated to a lively scene of food, chefs, vintners and Cirque du
Soleil performers, all gathering on the stage that is the Universal Studios backlot.
Puck’s culinary contribution to the festivities this year included, as the chef
fervently describes, “something with lamb, liberty duck and lobster chinois.”
It’s obvious that Puck loves what he does, and he loves this event.“I think
for us it’s a lot of chefs getting together. It’s a lot of fun and always of the best
quality,” he explains.
For Puck, the event hits especially close to home.
“I really always tell people I was very lucky to come to this country with
no money—no nothing,” he says.“I remember checking into a hotel when I first
came here and I couldn’t check out because I had no credit card, no bank
account, no money. I was successful, and it’s our duty to give something back to
the people who have less. Giving makes you feel better than getting.”
(Top): Joachim Splichal’s Roasted Halibut Filet. Image courtesy Patina Group. (Above): Patina’s
cheese offerings. Image courtesy Patina Group.
New York:The 22 nd Annual “Chefs Gone Wild” Participating Chef:
Joachim Splichal, Patina Restaurant Group
A participant himself in the American Wine & Food Festival, Joachim Splichal, the
founder of Patina Restaurant Group, is also a major force behind New York City’s
“Chefs Gone Wild”, a similar dinner organized thousands of miles away to benefit
New York’s own Citymeals-on-Wheels.
In June, Splichal helped Citymeals-on-Wheels put on the 22 nd annual
incarnation of the event at Rockefeller Center. What started in 1984 with
twelve chefs is now an all-out extravaganza—34 separate teams of chefs
came out to contribute this year.
During this feast, more than 1,200 of New York’s business leaders, social
and cultural trendsetters and gourmands mingled with leading chefs, sampling
their specialties.This year’s creations indulged guests’ taste buds with crisp produce
and a healthy harvest of the nation’s finest, freshest foods.After an evening
of treats, sweets, and signature cocktails, guests enjoyed dancing under the stars
88 Fall 2007

the art of the chef
Equally impressive is his extensive catering and events business, most notably
the annual Governors Ball following the Academy Awards. A man with his finger
in many pies, Puck has extended his culinary hand to casual, express restaurants;
consumer products including packaged foods, beverages and cookware; book
publishing; and an assortment of television, radio and internet programming.
Yet, in spite of his mammoth success, Puck explains that he still gets his
primary inspiration from his ingredients.“I still go to the farmers’ and fish markets
to see what is there. I buy the best ingredients and enhance them with
exciting flavors,” he reveals.“We want people to live better; we buy humanely
treated animals and organic produce.”
So what of this year’s incarnation of the American Wine & Food Festival
Guests were treated to a lively scene of food, chefs, vintners and Cirque du
Soleil performers, all gathering on the stage that is the Universal Studios backlot.
Puck’s culinary contribution to the festivities this year included, as the chef
fervently describes, “something with lamb, liberty duck and lobster chinois.”
It’s obvious that Puck loves what he does, and he loves this event.“I think
for us it’s a lot of chefs getting together. It’s a lot of fun and always of the best
quality,” he explains.
For Puck, the event hits especially close to home.
“I really always tell people I was very lucky to come to this country with
no money—no nothing,” he says.“I remember checking into a hotel when I first
came here and I couldn’t check out because I had no credit card, no bank
account, no money. I was successful, and it’s our duty to give something back to
the people who have less. Giving makes you feel better than getting.”
(Top): Joachim Splichal’s Roasted Halibut Filet. Image courtesy Patina Group. (Above): Patina’s
cheese offerings. Image courtesy Patina Group.
New York:The 22 nd Annual “Chefs Gone Wild” Participating Chef:
Joachim Splichal, Patina Restaurant Group
A participant himself in the American Wine & Food Festival, Joachim Splichal, the
founder of Patina Restaurant Group, is also a major force behind New York City’s
“Chefs Gone Wild”, a similar dinner organized thousands of miles away to benefit
New York’s own Citymeals-on-Wheels.
In June, Splichal helped Citymeals-on-Wheels put on the 22 nd annual
incarnation of the event at Rockefeller Center. What started in 1984 with
twelve chefs is now an all-out extravaganza—34 separate teams of chefs
came out to contribute this year.
During this feast, more than 1,200 of New York’s business leaders, social
and cultural trendsetters and gourmands mingled with leading chefs, sampling
their specialties.This year’s creations indulged guests’ taste buds with crisp produce
and a healthy harvest of the nation’s finest, freshest foods.After an evening
of treats, sweets, and signature cocktails, guests enjoyed dancing under the stars
88 Fall 2007

the art of the chef
WINE & FOOD MAVERICK
Barbara Lazaroff,
Co-Founder of the Puck-Lazaroff
Charitable Foundation
“25 years is a long legacy of contributing to the lives of the elderly
and homebound in Los Angeles. I am grateful and proud
that so many have been so generous with their time, talent and
finances. We have helped so many while enjoying a delicious
and wonderful time at our American Wine & Food Festivals for
the multiple Meals on Wheels programs in the area. I have
always felt that a truly civilized society is evident in how we care
for our young and old—the most vulnerable in our midst.”
Lazaroff at the 29 th American
Wine & Food Festival. Courtesy
Imaginings Interior Design, Inc.
Joachim Splichal’s Quartet of the Sea. Image courtesy Patina Group.
until midnight. Famed architect and set designer David Rockwell designed the
gardens, rink and esplanades of Rockefeller Center for the event, transforming
the setting into New York’s most glamorous farmer’s market.
Over the course of the year, Citymeals-on-Wheels underwrites 2.7 million
hand-delivered meals to nearly 18,000 seniors in
New York City.This year’s event raised $1.2 million, which
translates directly into over 200, 000 meals.
“Healthier eating for our meal recipients is a priority
for Citymeals-on-Wheels,” says Marcia Stein, executive
director of Citymeals-on-Wheels.“A portion of the
night’s proceeds will be designated to deliver healthier
foods, whole grains and fresh produce to our homebound
elderly. One hundred percent of every dollar we
raise through ticket sales at ‘Chefs Gone Wild’ will help
Citymeals-on-Wheels provide nutritious, hand-delivered
meals for aged New Yorkers, our most often forgotten
neighbors.”
The participating chefs (who numbered more than
40) were among the most renowned in the world.
Signature wines include many Californian vintners familiar to
wine buffs, including Au Bon Climat, Beckmen, and Francis
Coppola Wineries.
In many ways, Splichal is the glue tying the East Coast
and West Coast events together.
For the American Wine & Food Festival, where Splichal says his intent
was to design “just a little bite,” the chef created a whimsical dish, “a potatochip
tower with lemon scallops and caviar,” combining the ever-popular and
oh-so-humble potato with one of the most expensive ingredients—caviar.
90 Fall 2007

the art of escape
A South Pacific Scene
In the heart of the South Pacific, a new artists’ space is
making waves, promising an interactive experience for
the true art aficionado By Layla Revis
Where do we come from
begins. It just so happened that, for Gauguin, inspiration
came in the middle of the South Pacific,
What are we Where are we going
They’re a series of questions you may thousands of miles from his homeland.
have asked yourself more than a few So it should seem as no surprise that today
times in your life.
there’s a vibrant international art scene taking root
They’re also the title of one of Paul Gauguin’s in, of all places, a luxury resort on the Society
most famous masterpieces. Created in 1898, the Islands—very near the spot Gauguin turned to for
artwork to which these words are assigned his own artistic spark.
reflects the artist’s two great desires—achieving Gauguin certainly wouldn’t be confronted
simplicity and abandoning convention.
with the “artificial and conventional” (which he so
Gauguin lived a life that was indicative of these despised) here. Housed on the top floor of a
ideals. He is markedly known for retreating from a uniquely Tahitian wood structure of over one hundred
forty rooms and bungalows, “L’Atelier” (or
drab career in French finance to paint full time on
the shores of Tahiti’s Punaauia region—but why “The Studio”) overlooks the sumptuous sandybottomed
pool and aqua-tinted lagoon of Le
The beloved post-impressionist knew one
thing—artifice often ends where inspiration Méridien Tahiti.
A sand-bottomed pool sets the scene at Le Méridien Tahiti. Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
L’Atelier guests and artists indulge their creative impulses.
Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
Tahiti is a place where the locals speak their
native tongue just as they speak their French, one
of the only regions in the world where colonialists
did not incite revolution or impose conquest. In
what many may consider unique, the French and
Tahitian experience has been one of moderate,
peaceful assimilation.Tahitians still greatly outnumber
their French compatriots, but they all share
one thing in common: a great love of natural beauty,
culture, and history. As a result, their artwork is
a reflection of purity and exoticism.
Proudly featuring contemporary artists from
across the islands and around the world, L’Atelier
is perfectly integrated into the luxuriant vegetation
on the island and reflects Le Méridien’s passion for
supporting local culture while offering guests a
unique and interactive artistic experience.
Recent L’Atelier artists-in-residence include
the likes of Jean Achille, a Papeete native who
began working modeling clay and producing
92 Fall 2007

Above-water bungalows carry on the architectural tradition of the Society Island archipelago. Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
pieces that, after being fired at 1000 degrees,
mimic the appearance of aged bronze. He draws
inspiration from his roots and the Polynesian culture,
giving life to powerful characters in full action.
Another artist housed at Le Méridien Tahiti,
Gerald Gaillard is a contemporary professional
painter who exhibited for the first time at the age
of twenty-two.
During the last 25 years, his artistic talent has
been recognized throughout Africa and South
America as he combines different techniques (oil,
acrylic, pastel, and charcoal) while, at the same
time, respecting the individuality of each material.
And then there’s Nicolas Caubarrere,
L’Atelier’s unofficial maritime artist-in-residence.
L’Atelier’s terrace provides a spectacular view of the Pacific. Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
Art and Living 93

the art of escape
Artist Gérald Gaillard provides instruction to a hotel
guest. Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
Born and raised near the ocean, he’s been
painting seascapes and waves since he was a
child and started participating in exhibitions
when he was 20.
At the age of 26, he founded his own gallery
in Uruguay called ¨Atelier de La Barra¨, named
after the seaside resort in Uruguay where the
gallery is settled. In 2003, he started showing his
work in California—at the Palm Springs Art Fair,
La Quinta Art Festival, and Laguna Beach’s Joseph
Wise Gallery.
He participated in the Haleiwa Art Festival and
started exhibiting at Island Art Galleries, which has
represented his work in Hawaii since 2004. Shortly
thereafter, he was invited to become a member of
the Association of Hawaiian Artists (AHA).
Caubarrere’s secret He paints what he lives.
When a place inspires him, he settles there, he
meets the people, he enjoys the environment and
surfs its ocean.This merge of experiences is what
he transmits in his work as he stamps his experience
on a canvas and turns it into art.
Additionally, the work of L’Atelier artist
Gabrielle Jones has been increasingly recognized
for the originality and sensitivity that she brings to
her landscapes. She has been described by the
eminent artist Charles Blackman as “… full of shining
light, radiant…[she] lets the inner things—her
soul—come into her paintings [and] evokes feelings
from the viewer.”
Since graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of
Fine Arts at the National Art School Sydney,
Jones has won the Brentwood Acquisitive, the
ANU Tanner Lecture series, and the
Northbridge Art Prizes.
“My work results from direct observation
and immersion in the landscape...the structure of
an environment has been internalized, producing
half-remembered, dream-like views that represent
a 'landscape essence' rather than a specific place,”
she explains.“The scenes depicted in my paintings
are all imagined; they start in concrete reality but
grow and change as the painting—the object—
asserts itself in the same way nature does.”
Unlike mere gallery spaces, L’Atelier draws
creative guests to its exhibitions as well as the
artists themselves. An inviting setting for lectures,
art workshops and, of course, cocktail-fueled
openings, the open air space provides island inspiration
along with fresh opportunities to peruse
contemporary works of art—including paintings,
pottery, photography, sculpture and jewelry.
Guests can not only learn the techniques and
experience the creativity of impassioned artists
firsthand, but can also produce their very own
original artworks to take home across the seas.
For more information or to reserve your Artistic Travel
Package at Le Méridien Tahiti, call +689.47.07.29 or
visit www.lemeridien.com/tahitioffers
Nicolas Caubarrere, Le Méridien Sunset, 2007. Courtesy of
Le Méridien Tahiti.
At Le Méridien Tahiti’s L’Atelier, artists’ pieces adorn the walls while guests and artists themselves partake in
creating their own artwork. Courtesy of Le Méridien Tahiti.
94 Fall 2007

AD
Art and Living 95

the art of giving
Fiat Lux!
Talking with Shelby White,
the face behind the recently
opened Leon Levy and
Shelby White Court at
the Metropolitan Museum
of Art By Yoo-Jong Kim
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, Shelby White and Met Director Philippe de Montebello at the Greek and Roman Galleries’
opening in April. Photo by Don Pollard.
Abright white light illuminates the austere
marble of a statue of Hercules on
display in the new Greek and Roman
Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York. High above, an interior skylight mounted
within a newly heightened roof allows a flood
of fluxing natural light to imbue the space below
with a preternaturally peaceful atmosphere. The
original McKim Mead and White design for the galleries,
dating from 1926, has been completely
transformed to provide a majestic setting befitting
the world-renowned collection of ancient treasures
now on display.
Acting as the centerpiece of the newly reconfigured
space (which has been more than fifteen
years in the making) is the Leon Levy and Shelby
White Court. Philippe de Montebello, the director
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has called the
court the “grandest space in the museum.”
This splendid atrium, styled after a classical
peristyle garden, is named for none other than
philanthropist Shelby White and her late husband,
Leon Levy. White, who is also a noted
writer and art collector, sat down with Art and
Living to talk about the court, the art that has
finally been unveiled within it, and her unique
brand of scholarly philanthropy.
Art and Living: What was your first
encounter with the art of the classical
world
Shelby White: When I was just out of college,
I was fortunate to work for a film producer
who made a documentary about Greek
art and I fell in love with a special type of
Column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis, ca. 300 B.C. Greek, Hellenistic. Marble.The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Gift of The American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, 1926. Image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Greek vase called a lekythos, which I first saw
at the British Museum.
96 Fall 2007

View of the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court with Roman sculpture, 1 st century B.C. – 2 nd century A.D. Image courtesy the
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A and L: Your husband, Mr. Levy, was also a
great connoisseur and collector of the art
of the ancient world. How did you two influence
each other
SW: My husband was fascinated by ancient history—
he was particularly interested in Gibbon’s Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire.This led us to Roman
art, especially Roman portraits.
Our interest in collecting led us to archaeology
and the support of excavations, including Ashkelon,
a Canaanite site in Israel that we have supported for
twenty years. I was recently there and helped excavate
the skull of a Canaanite who died almost 3400
years ago.The teeth were still in perfect condition.
My dentist would have been impressed!
A and L: How has your passion for Greek
and Roman art led you to philanthropy
SW: We realized that many excavation reports
were never published, depriving archeological scholars
of valuable research. So we set up the White-
Levy Program for Archaeological Publications at
Harvard and have given away more than nine million
dollars to archaeologists in Greece, Cyprus, the
United States, Italy, Israel, and other countries to
ensure the publication of their work.
The Leon Levy Foundation also supports
research programs for the mind and brain at
Rockefeller University. In 2006, the foundation
pledged two hundred million dollars to New York
Art and Living 97

the art of giving
(Left):View of the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court with
marble statue of the youthful Hercules, A.D. 69-98. Roman,
Flavian period. Adaptation of a Greek statue type of the 4 th
century B.C.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs.
Frederick F.Thompson. Image courtesy The Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
University to establish the Institute for the Study of the
Ancient World, to serve as a center for advanced scholarly
research and graduate education and intended to
cultivate cross-cultural study of the ancient world from
the western Mediterranean to China. This summer, the
foundation announced the donation of a chair to the
Maxwell School of Syracuse University to be named after
the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who was a
great friend of mine and my husband’s.
A and L: In providing such enthusiasm and
resources to make these galleries come to life,
you have been a major force in the “rescue” of
thousands of works of art from storage. How do
you feel about this
SW: I think the galleries at the Metropolitan Museum are
beautiful and a wonderful setting for the Met’s collection.
The public now has the opportunity to see many magnificent
pieces that had been in storage for years.
A and L: Did you have any direct working relationship
with the architect
SW: While I didn’t work directly with Kevin Roche, I followed
the development of the plans and the installation
very closely over the many years of the project.
A and L: What are some of the works of art in the
Greek, Roman and Etruscan galleries that appeal
to you the most
SW: While it’s always hard to choose favorites, I am especially
fond of the bust of Hadrian from our collection that is
on loan to the new galleries. It was found in the 18 th century
at the emperor’s villa. I like to think that he strolled past it
when he walked in his garden.Today, millions of visitors can
share that same experience.
98 Fall 2007

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the art of giving
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
The world-renowned center of
innovative healing—past, present
and future By Janet Margolis
The year was 1966. As Frederick Weisman lay ill in his bed at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his wife Marcia desperately looked
for ways to cheer him up. Frederick, a well-known collector, had
always loved to gaze at the art on his walls at home, so when Marcia brought
him one of his favorite pieces (a Jackson Pollock painting), he responded joyfully.
Each day, as Marcia brought another piece to the hospital, his recovery
would surprisingly progress.
Larry Powell, Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Governors, and wife Joyce.
Photo by Jillian E. Sorkin.
Recognizing the notable influence that art has on recuperation, the
Weismans, along with other philanthropists and several prominent artists, have
contributed significant artwork to the hospital over the years.
Cedars-Sinai has always welcomed new and innovative ideas in patient treatment.
By creating a museum-like environment in which original artwork lines the
hallways, art has become a therapeutic distraction from illness, encouraging
patients to remove themselves from “the physical element” of their illness and
become immersed in an abstract level of thought.
The medical center offers a tour to the patients, which begins at the Marcia
Weisman auditorium and gallery area where several Andy Warhol pieces and a
recent donation of a personal art collection from Patricia Faure are on display.
The hallways on most floors contain colorful abstract pieces that serve as “wayfinders”,
easily directing both patients and visitors to locations throughout the
hospital. From a Claes Oldenburg interactive sculpture of an ice bag in the lobby
to the LA Uncovered series of limited edition lithographs that includes several
pieces by Robert Rauschenberg, the art displayed brings soothing feelings yet
stimulates the patient’s cognitive abilities and prompts the sense of comfort suggested
by familiar places, objects and people.
John T. Lange, a curator at Cedars-Sinai who often officiates the art tours,
finds the reactions from both patients and medical personnel to be remarkable.
According to him, a donor patient who had quadruple bypass surgery and was
in the cardiac rehab program was quite impressed and actually wanted to contribute
some of his own work as part of the healing environment.
Andy Warhol, Marcia Weisman. Image courtesy Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
Cedars-Sinai continues to plant seeds for the growth of significant and
100 Fall 2007

the art of giving
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
The world-renowned center of
innovative healing—past, present
and future By Janet Margolis
The year was 1966. As Frederick Weisman lay ill in his bed at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his wife Marcia desperately looked
for ways to cheer him up. Frederick, a well-known collector, had
always loved to gaze at the art on his walls at home, so when Marcia brought
him one of his favorite pieces (a Jackson Pollock painting), he responded joyfully.
Each day, as Marcia brought another piece to the hospital, his recovery
would surprisingly progress.
Larry Powell, Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Governors, and wife Joyce.
Photo by Jillian E. Sorkin.
Recognizing the notable influence that art has on recuperation, the
Weismans, along with other philanthropists and several prominent artists, have
contributed significant artwork to the hospital over the years.
Cedars-Sinai has always welcomed new and innovative ideas in patient treatment.
By creating a museum-like environment in which original artwork lines the
hallways, art has become a therapeutic distraction from illness, encouraging
patients to remove themselves from “the physical element” of their illness and
become immersed in an abstract level of thought.
The medical center offers a tour to the patients, which begins at the Marcia
Weisman auditorium and gallery area where several Andy Warhol pieces and a
recent donation of a personal art collection from Patricia Faure are on display.
The hallways on most floors contain colorful abstract pieces that serve as “wayfinders”,
easily directing both patients and visitors to locations throughout the
hospital. From a Claes Oldenburg interactive sculpture of an ice bag in the lobby
to the LA Uncovered series of limited edition lithographs that includes several
pieces by Robert Rauschenberg, the art displayed brings soothing feelings yet
stimulates the patient’s cognitive abilities and prompts the sense of comfort suggested
by familiar places, objects and people.
John T. Lange, a curator at Cedars-Sinai who often officiates the art tours,
finds the reactions from both patients and medical personnel to be remarkable.
According to him, a donor patient who had quadruple bypass surgery and was
in the cardiac rehab program was quite impressed and actually wanted to contribute
some of his own work as part of the healing environment.
Andy Warhol, Marcia Weisman. Image courtesy Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
Cedars-Sinai continues to plant seeds for the growth of significant and
100 Fall 2007

the art of giving
Claes Oldenburg, Ice Bag 2. Image courtesy Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
crucial projects.The Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Board of Governors, an integral
arm of the hospital, continues to serve in the development of healing
research. Comprised of prominent members of the Los Angeles community,
the board has had and continues to have a very successful and hands-on
approach regarding its affiliation with the hospital. Many of the board members
serve on its committees and take an active, day-to-day role in the inner
workings of the hospital.
“Cedars is not just a hospital. It also encompasses a unique group of philanthropists.There
is a tremendous amount of research supported by donation.
It’s an important part of the community,” says Larry Powell, Immediate
Past Chair of the Board of Governors.
In 1996, the Board of Governors raised funds for the Board of Governors
Gene Therapeutics Research Institute, where researchers look into human cells to
unlock the causes of disease. For the past few years, the Board of Governors has
begun an extensive fundraising effort to institute the Board of Governors Center
for Cancer Research.The mission of the center will be to support and equip worldclass
scientists in the exploration of the vital frontiers of cancer research.The “Road
to a Cure” gala on November 15, 2007 will help to raise funds for the center.
“The Board of Governors initiated an ambitious campaign to raise $15
million to fund the Board Of Governors Center for Cancer Research at the
Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Board Of Governors
Infusion Center. In record time we hope to reach the goal and even surpass
it.As one of the primary fundraising and leadership groups at Cedars-Sinai, the
Board of Governors is proud to be a major force in such a world-class medical
center and to have the opportunity to do something vital to help control
this insidious disease,” say Annette Shapiro and Celia Davidson Farkas, cochairs
of the Board of Governors Development Committee.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Board of Governors have always
believed in looking for ways to reach out to people through healing, whether
through the arts or research. Inventive thinking about curing disease and dedicated
leadership have paved a path toward health in the past and will continue
to do so now and into the future.
102 Fall 2007

spotlight gallery
A Legend in Her Own Time
For a lifetime, Patricia Faure has cultivated only the best in the art world By Janet Margolis
Andy Moses, Reflections at Dawn, 2007. Acrylic on concave canvas. Image courtesy the artist/Patricia Faure Gallery.
What defines a legend As Webster states,“a person or notable
whose deeds or exploits are much talked about in his own
time.”This definition reflects only one facet of Patricia Faure’s
extraordinary life of seventy-nine years. A renowned fashion model, photographer,
gallerist, mentor, visionary, mother and, of course, great friend of the art
world must be added to the description of this particular legend.
Patricia (Patti) Faure was born in Milwaukee,Wisconsin and raised in Los
Angeles. After attending Hollywood High, the pretty fifteen-year-old decided
to pursue a career in fashion modeling and headed to New York, where she
signed a contract with the Ford Agency in 1947. Fascinated with the world of
photography, Faure soon decided to step behind the camera; she began photographing
designer collections while assisting leading fashion photographer
Francesco Scavullo.
She continued her photography career in Los Angeles where she met and
married Jacques Faure, art director for Condé Nast. For the next eleven years
they lived in Paris, where she gave birth to daughter Zazu and freelanced for
numerous fashion publications.
Quickly becoming an important influence in artistic circles, Faure began
attracting the “movers and shakers” in the art scene.“She is like a great social
An archival photo of Patricia Faure, 1957. Image courtesy Patricia Faure Gallery.
104 Fall 2007

hostess from another era—she introduces everybody
to everybody,” explains contemporary artist
Andy Moses, a close friend of Faure’s.“If you meet
someone through Patti you feel like you have a
kinship and affinity with them because of the
common bond. And you automatically feel they
must be special to have a friend like Patti.”
Returning to Los Angeles after her divorce in
1970, Faure continued pursuing her passion for the
arts as an assistant to Nick Wilder, reputed as one
of LA’s most notable art dealers.
“Working with Nicky was the biggest influence
on me. He had the vision to see new movement
in art before anyone else,” says Faure today.
When Wilder closed his gallery in 1979, Faure
partnered with Betty Asher, a contemporary art
collector and former curator at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. The Asher/Faure Gallery
became unique in its own right by initially introducing
important New York artists to LA and intermingling
them with local artists.This feat in itself precipitated
a revitalization of the LA art scene.
“I was always interested in the evolution of art
and all new things that were happening and what
the next movement would be,” explains Faure.
Her insight perpetuated itself. Faure moved to and opened Patricia Faure
Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica after Asher died in 1994. As she
continued to support contemporary artists—including Tony DeLap, Craig
Kauffman, Scott Greiger, Llyn Foulkes, Max Hendler, and Andy Moses—she committed
herself to educating and enlightening the LA art community and to
developing new and emerging artists such as Salomón Huerta and Ethan Acres.
“Very few dealers have stuck to their guns the way Patti has. She follows
her gut as a dealer and if she likes something she’ll stick with it through thick
and thin,” says Moses.
In 2006 Faure sold her gallery to Samuel Freeman, a fellow art devotee
who adheres to a philosophy not unlike that of Faure. As Freeman explains,
Patricia Faure Gallery remains authentic to its original vision by continuing to
show art that is “honest work—work with a sense of integrity and depth that
is not overly naïve or pretentious.” In other words, both Freeman and Faure
Billy Al Bengston, Untitled, 1962. Lacquer and oil on Masonite. Image courtesy Patricia Faure Gallery.
believe that a painting should stand on its own.
These days, Faure still keeps her eye on the art scene—albeit as a less
active participant—and is still adored by those who know her and have worked
with her. Molly Barnes, a radio show host, owner of Molly Barnes Gallery, and an
admitted rival of Faure’s, reveals:“Being a top model in Paris and going first class
with Nicky Wilder, Patti has always had a high concept and attitude of how things
should be done. In her gallery, she always pitched the best artists and the most
sophisticated collectors to inhabit her world.”
When asked how she would most like to be remembered, Faure laughs
and jokingly remarks,“For being pretty.”
So true, and so much more.
Patricia Faure Gallery is currently showing Billy Al Bengston from October 20 –
November 24, 2007 and Tony DeLap and Doree Dunlap from December 1,
2007 – January 12, 2008.
Art and Living 105

spotlight gallery
A Gallerist Revealed
As Zabriskie Gallery celebrates
more than 50 years in operation, its
namesake’s dedication to art remains
unwavering By Yoo-Jong Kim
Though many words could be used to describe her career path,
Virginia Zabriskie prefers the title of “gallerist”—a term she uses to
distinguish between the French words galleriste and marchand
d’art—to describe what she does. “My work is less about showing any given
client a work of art for sale, but rather presenting an artist’s work,” she explains.
And, after a half-century of working as a gallerist, Zabriskie should know
what the job entails. Over the years, this respected art world figure has
mounted an unprecedented 800 exhibitions in her eponymous gallery on
Manhattan Island. Such a number seems gargantuan and yet makes sense
when taken in perspective—as the gallerist assuredly points out, she was one
of the youngest gallery owners out there when she began and she remains
one of the oldest still working.
Virginia Marshall Zabriskie began her challenging career in 1955. She had
been studying art history at the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University,
where she researched and wrote about the Duchamp-Villon brothers—
Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon.Then only in
Virginia Zabriskie with a sculpture by Elie Nadelman, 1974. Photo by John Ferrari. Courtesy
Zabriskie Gallery.
her early 20s, she leased a space on Madison Avenue and
immediately began exhibiting the works of contemporary
painters, sculptors and photographers.
To put Zabriskie’s achievement in perspective, in 1954
“only about fifteen galleries in New York were specializing in
contemporary art and, interestingly, most of them were
owned and run by women,“ cites the gallerist.This is a small
number compared to today, when Chelsea alone hosts more
than 250 galleries exhibiting contemporary art. While there
were other gallerists at the time (albeit few compared to
today’s numbers) many famous women gallerists came to
have their own spaces only after working in auction houses
or apprenticing with other galleries, notes Zabriskie.
Shirley Goldfarb, Chartres, 1971. Oil on canvas. Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery.
Her gallery represents a lifetime commitment to exhibit-
106 Fall 2007

ing artists with innovative ideas and
an identifiable perspective. The
scope of her vision is clearly signified
by the breadth of artistic movements
covered by her gallery, which
Richard Stankiewicz, Two Tank Figures (1963-
1), 1963. Steel. Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery
and estate of the artist.
specializes in Dada,
Surrealism,
American Modernism, contemporary
painting, contemporary sculpture
and photography. Zabriskie: 50
Years, the gallery’s anniversary catalogue,
reads like a timeline of postwar
art history. The gallery handles
works of such legendary artists as
Elie Nadelman and Richard
Stankiewicz and has exhibited photographs
of Berenice Abbott, Eugène
Atget, and Man Ray, among others.
When asked about a favorite exhibition from her lengthy career,
Zabriskie quickly begins reminiscing about Collage in America, the show she
put together in 1957, only three years after the inception of her gallery.
Included in this ground-breaking exhibition were collages by Arthur Dove,
Franz Kline, Jasper Johns, Lee Krasner, Robert Motherwell and Robert
Rauschenberg. Even this early on in her career, she explains, she knew she
wanted to create exhibitions with a distinctive point of view that capitalized
Jacques Villegle, Rue du Grenier St. Lazarre, 1967.Torn posters. Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery.
on her spatial acumen and highlighted her expansive vision of modern art.
From 1977 until 1998, Zabriskie directed an additional gallery in Paris,
which afforded her an advantageous trans-Atlantic gallery identity. When she
opened her gallery in Paris, she learned to her astonishment that the country
that had produced Daguerre, Nadar, Brassai, and Cartier-Bresson did not consider
photography truly a collector’s art form. This situation differed radically
from the United States, where photography was already in vogue and was a
passion for many collectors. In turn, presence in Paris gave her the opportunity
to find notable works of art by little-known European artists and bring
them to her American audience.
“I hope everybody enjoys their career as much as I do,” Zabriskie says
enthusiastically. Her jubilation is no doubt warranted—as a New York gallerist
whose half-century of working vision has spanned two continents, Zabriskie
has left a notable, positive impact on developing art movements and the
countless living artists she has worked with.
From December 18, 2007 – February 2, 2008, Zabriskie Gallery is presenting the
Eugène Atget, Escalier, rue Deautreilles. Courtesy Zabriskie Gallery.
work of American painter Shirley Goldfarb.
Art and Living 107

galleries
Now Showing
Check out these great gallery shows this fall
James Rosenquist:Time Blades
Acquavella Galleries, New York, New York
Clocks die; the hands stop clicking away and yet time struts on,
unaffected by broken machines. James Rosenquist is one of the
many still puzzled by the complexities regarding where time has
been and the possibilities surrounding where it may go.
Acquavella Galleries has chosen to honor the fruits of Rosenquist’s fascination
by housing Time Blades, the artist’s first solo exhibition since James
Rosenquist – A Retrospective toured in 2003-2004.To accompany the show, a fully
illustrated catalogue is available, featuring an essay by Sarah C. Bancroft, co-curator
of the artist’s earlier retrospective.
In The Chains of a Time Piece II, Rosenquist uses explosive colors, suggestive
chains, and pulsating lines bound together by circular shapes to show the concrete-yet-complicated
aspects of time’s cyclical nature.
It’s often intriguing to explore one’s own passions through the imagination
James Rosenquist, Idea, 3:50 A.M., 2007. Oil on canvas. © 2007 Acquavella
Contemporary Art, Inc. New York.
of another and, as fall looms and our minds become creative with the changing
colors of autumn, we look toward artists like Rosenquist for comfort that we
are not alone in our metaphysical journey. Christy Dusablon
October 31 – December 14, 2007
18 East 79th Street, New York, New York
212.734.6300 • www.acquavellagalleries.com
James Rosenquist, The Chains of a Time Piece II, 2007. Oil on canvas with chains. © 2007
Acquavella Contemporary Art, Inc. New York.
Rico Lebrun: Dante’s Inferno
Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, California
In Koplin Del Rio’s latest exhibition, the Culver City gallery presents the
drawings of Rico Lebrun (1900-1964) in a profound journey through
Dante’s Inferno.
Though the prospects of taking a look into the nine circles of hell may
seem far from pleasurable, Lebrun’s drawings tantalize with their unique
approach to Dante, his epic, and the creatures that inhabit it.
“I find that I bring even to the most splendid images of Dante a resisting
irony toward the appalling concept of divine vengeance and infinite pity for the
108 Fall 2007

Judge,” Lebrun was once quoted as saying. “And this is an aim of my drawing
also; that the objects of his ire should be nobly outlined, not as slobbering dogs
but as disfigured images of fundamental dignity.”
Lebrun completed these drawings in 1961, three years before his death.
The exhibition features selected works from the hundreds of drawings and lithographs
that Lebrun executed for the series.
November 3 – December 21, 2007
6031 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California
310.836.9055 • www.koplindelrio.com
Joong Keun Lee: Infinite Conundrum
LA Contemporary, Los Angeles, California
The immensely-sized canvases of Joong Keun Lee create a splendid
opportunity for visitors to LA Contemporary this November. From
far away, Lee’s images appear as ornate, gift-wrap-like patterns.
However, when viewed up close, these patterns take on a much more detailed
form, revealing concrete shapes pieced together in one giant and intricately
constructed composition.
As it turns out, trying to find the best place to view these compositions
may be half the fun.“The interfering effect of the multi-layer structure breaks the
single gallery space and creates spaces of two or three folds,” explains gallery
curator Hoojung Lee. “Viewers will continuously move back and forth due to
the waves generated by the layers in the space, unable to find a fixed position
or a kind of an answer.”
Playing the dual role of art and optical riddle, Lee’s work at once dazzles
and perplexes.
November 9 – November 24, 2007
2634 South La Cienega Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California
310.559.6200 • www.lacontemporary.com
Rico Lebrun, Untitled (Dante’s Inferno Series), 1961. Ink wash on paper. Image courtesy
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Culver City, California.
Rico Lebrun, Untitled (Dante’s Inferno Series), 1961. Ink wash on paper. Image courtesy
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Culver City, California.
Joong Keun Lee, Sweet Tongue (Detail), 2004. Photograph, computer graphic, lightjet print,
and wood panel. Image courtesy LA Contemporary.
Art and Living 109

galleries
Jorge Santos
George Billis Gallery LA, Culver City, California
While many words could be used to describe the canvases
of artist Jorge Santos; “conventional” would
probably not be one of them. The Southern
California-based painter renders images that are a great deal photorealistic,
yet those images are not necessarily anything you might see walking
down a street on any given day.
But such is the power of Santos’s mind’s eye.
George Billis Gallery’s current show displays a collection that reflects
both the artist’s affinity for depicting recurring items—boats, kites, and the
open sky all make multiple appearances here—and for juxtaposing the
banal with the bizarre and befuddling. Sometimes, canvases are enigmatically
awkward (see the playful Little Sister), graphically haunting (the ambiguity
of Stow Away) or just plain strange (Art Class).The overall impact of
this menagerie of characters is unsettling—often disturbing—and yet,
somehow, subtly humorous.
Where exactly the humor comes from, however, is up to the viewer
to decide.
October 9 – November 24, 2007
2716 South La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
310.838.3685 • www.georgebillis.com
Alex Katz, Vivien, 2007. Oil on linen. Image courtesy Richard Gray Gallery
Masterworks
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Starting November 9th, Richard Gray Gallery presents
Masterworks, an exhibition of pieces by some of the 20 th and
21 st century’s most renowned artists.
Visitors to the gallery’s main space within Chicago’s John Hancock
Center are greeted by a collection of contemporary works that incorporate
the body as subject matter.The star of the show, no doubt, is a
brand-new set of five life-size sculptural figures by Jim Dine composed
of urethane and painted with swathes of bright, iridescent colors.
The figuration continues with late works by European modernists
who continued to work into the postwar years. Joan Miró’s stunningbut-intimate
Personnage—French for “person” or “character”—lords
over its exhibition space, flanked by Matisse and Dubuffet drawings.The
Dubuffet ink drawings, also titled in variances of the word personnage,
bear a striking semblance to the Miró in the way they blur the line
between the human, the animal, and the superhuman.
Jorge Santos, Stowaway, 2007. Oil and acrylic on canvas. Image courtesy
George Billis Gallery.
November 9 – December 28, 2007
John Hancock Center
875 North Michigan Avenue Suite 2503, Chicago, Illinois
312.642.8877 • www.richardgraygallery.com
110 Fall 2007

Biedul & Gehry: Raw Space
DCA Fine Art, Santa Monica, California
In DCA Fine Art’s Biedul & Gehry: Raw Space, the human body presents
itself as capable of playing two roles for two different artists. For Brian
Biedul, the body is a form within space; insides and outsides are explored
in distinct compositions that, if anything, remind just how restrictive a canvas
can be. The austerity and hard right angles of white backgrounds contrast
strikingly with the contorted forms of highly rendered nude figures, which
push unsuccessfully towards the space beyond.
“In order for me to define the limitations of the space, I have placed a figure
in that space and that is the only reason for it. I could have used anything,
but I chose the human body because it is universally understood.There are no
disagreements as to where the body starts and stops,” explains Biedul.
For Gehry, the body encompasses boundaries of a less spatial nature. In
Untitled, simple line work details the painting’s human figures overlaid on colorful
rectangular abstractions.
In short, while Biedul gives the limitations of his canvas center stage, Gehry
instead lets his brushstrokes speak. What results then is a space that, while
remaining every bit raw, holds more to it than meets the eye.
November 3 – December 31, 2007
3107 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, California
310.396.8265 • www.dcafineart.com
Alejandro Gehry, Untitled. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy DCA Fine Art.
The Seventies Revisited
DNJ Gallery, Los Angeles, California
DNJ Gallery’s current offering, The Seventies Revisited, provides a
glimpse into the happening art scene of Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Presented in the exhibition is a collection of work by five Los Angelesbased
artists: Jo Ann Callis, Eileen Cowin, Darryl Curran, Anthony Friedkin
and Jane O’Neal. In documenting their own experiences either through
photography or collage, these creators allow their viewers to explore their
now-vintage artistic practices that paved the way for a new generation of
photographic ideas.
Highlights include Anthony Friedkin’s Breaking Wave, Venice, CA, which
exhibits a Pacific Ocean swell as it hits its defining moment.
October 25 – December 8, 2007
154 1/2 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California
323.931.1311 • www.dnjgallery.net
Brian Biedul, Square 2. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy DCA Fine Art.
Anthony Friedkin, Breaking Wave, Venice, CA, 1978. Gelatin silver print. Image courtesy
the artist and DNJ Gallery.
Art and Living 111

galleries
Lauren Bon, Bees and Meat, 2007. Image courtesy ACE Gallery Los Angeles.
Face to Face:The Visage in Sculpture, Painting
and Photography – Past & Present
Walter Randel Gallery, New York, New York
Organized around a belief that contemporary art can be
viewed side-by-side with historical works to great synergistic
effect, Walter Randel Gallery’s fall show invites the artviewing
public to come face to face with art of the past and present.
The show presents sculptural, painterly, and photographic images of
the human visage from the around the world and across history, creating a
rare opportunity for a close study of identity, history and collective humanity.
Roman, Visigothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Asian and African sculptures
appear in the company of contemporary paintings by Josef Levi and Peter
Golfinopoulos and photographs by Walter Naegle and Lucien Clergue.
Clergue is the first photographer ever to be inducted into France’s
prestious Académie des Beaux Arts since its creation in 1803.The exhibition
offers a selection of Clergue’s work depicting Pablo Picasso as he contemplates
astonishing and bizarre ethnographic sculptures from the South Seas.
The show is engaging, giving each visitor an opportunity to look to the
past and examine the present using one’s own face as a point of reference
in the process of confronting a work of art.
The gallery has also created a lavish, complimentary catalogue to
accompany the exhibition.
Lauren Bon: Bees and Meat
Ace Gallery Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
For the first time since she exhibited her Not a Cornfield public land
installation in Downtown LA two years ago, Lauren Bon has submitted
a new entry to her ever-expanding portfolio.This go around, the
Los Angeles-and-London-based artist presents Bees and Meat, a collection of
works that reflects on the aftermath of Not a Cornfield’s undertaking and
reveals Bon’s areas of interest—bees, for one—that arose out of the cornstalk-planting
project’s installation.
The show presents a plethora of sculptures—90 miles of irrigation stripping,
two real-life bee hives, and a giant aquarium of honey, among a litany of
other things—that fills Ace Gallery’s rooms and spills into its hallways. What
results is an indoor agricultural experience that all but transplants gallery visitors
outdoors to the 32-acre tract of land that comprised Not a Cornfield.
September 17 – November 18, 2007
287 Tenth Avenue, New York, New York
212.239.3330 • www.wrgallery.com
October 27 – January 2008
5514 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
323.935.4411 • www.acegallery.net
112 Fall 2007
Portrait of a Bearded Man, ca. 1600s.
Image courtesy Walter Randel Gallery.

galleries
Peter Shire: Chairs
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Since the late 1970s, Peter Shire has been working at an intersection of
influences. The Los Angeles native has built a career on his ability to
blend fine art, industrial design and fine craftsmanship, drawing freely
from each area without taking any of it too seriously. He has made forays into
architecture, furniture, and ceramic sculpture.
Now, he is toying with a common part of our everyday domestic life: the
chair. In Peter Shire: Chairs, a wonderland of witty constructions mounted in Frank
Lloyd Gallery’s main space this fall, Shire injects his love of motion, sense of
humor and a dose of street culture into a collection of new chairs that is a blend
of architecture, color and just plain fun.
October 20 – November 24, 2007
2525 Michigan Avenue B5b, Santa Monica, California
310.264.3866 • www.franklloyd.com
Francisco Zuniga, Juchiteca Sentada, 1974. Bronze. Image courtesy
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts.
Francisco Zuniga:Woman as Icon
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, California
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts presents a fine selection of works by the late
Mexican artist and sculptor Francisco Zuniga this fall.Throughout his long
career, Zuniga turned to sculpting (and drawing and painting) as a chance to
study the nuances of the female form. His works often heroize his subjects, presenting
them as bold expressions of life itself.
In Woman as Icon, Zuniga’s often larger-than-life compositions are in clear
view. Although the artist generally depicted women as icons of strength and
dominance, the show’s Reclining Nude presents the sensual female form in a way
that hints at the figure’s ever-so-slight vulnerability.
As worldwide recognition of Zuniga and his work continues to grow—his
works are now included in the collections of the Met, MoMA, LACMA, and
numerous others—Woman as Icon creates the opportunity to see just what all
the commotion is about.
Peter Shire, Bete Blanc, 2007. Steel and enamel. Photo by Alan Shaffer.
September 29 – December 22, 2007
357 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California
323.938.5222 • www.jackrutbergfinearts.com
114 Fall 2007

galleries
Peter Shire: Chairs
Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Since the late 1970s, Peter Shire has been working at an intersection of
influences. The Los Angeles native has built a career on his ability to
blend fine art, industrial design and fine craftsmanship, drawing freely
from each area without taking any of it too seriously. He has made forays into
architecture, furniture, and ceramic sculpture.
Now, he is toying with a common part of our everyday domestic life: the
chair. In Peter Shire: Chairs, a wonderland of witty constructions mounted in Frank
Lloyd Gallery’s main space this fall, Shire injects his love of motion, sense of
humor and a dose of street culture into a collection of new chairs that is a blend
of architecture, color and just plain fun.
October 20 – November 24, 2007
2525 Michigan Avenue B5b, Santa Monica, California
310.264.3866 • www.franklloyd.com
Francisco Zuniga, Juchiteca Sentada, 1974. Bronze. Image courtesy
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts.
Francisco Zuniga:Woman as Icon
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, California
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts presents a fine selection of works by the late
Mexican artist and sculptor Francisco Zuniga this fall.Throughout his long
career, Zuniga turned to sculpting (and drawing and painting) as a chance to
study the nuances of the female form. His works often heroize his subjects, presenting
them as bold expressions of life itself.
In Woman as Icon, Zuniga’s often larger-than-life compositions are in clear
view. Although the artist generally depicted women as icons of strength and
dominance, the show’s Reclining Nude presents the sensual female form in a way
that hints at the figure’s ever-so-slight vulnerability.
As worldwide recognition of Zuniga and his work continues to grow—his
works are now included in the collections of the Met, MoMA, LACMA, and
numerous others—Woman as Icon creates the opportunity to see just what all
the commotion is about.
Peter Shire, Bete Blanc, 2007. Steel and enamel. Photo by Alan Shaffer.
September 29 – December 22, 2007
357 North La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California
323.938.5222 • www.jackrutbergfinearts.com
114 Fall 2007

galleries
“The canvasses begin as pristine white surfaces that assume their character
entirely as a result of how the figure develops,” says the artist.“Through erasure
and reiteration, the figure records the history of its making.”
November 1 – December 8, 2007
514 West 25th Street, New York, New York
212.941.0012 • www.lennonweinberg.com
Andy Moses, The Other Side of Midnight, 2006. Acrylic on concave canvas. Image courtesy
Modern Masters Fine Art.
MMFA Group Show
Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, California
In January, artist Andy Moses and gallery owner Melissa Morgan-Nauert are cocurating
a show of Southern California stars including CalArts alumni Moses,
Jimi Gleason, Alex Couwenberg, and Michel Tabori.Together, they introduce a
compelling palette of new abstraction. Using surface and material sensibilities of
the Finish Fetish, each artist brings his or her own vision to the installation.
Moses’ convex and concave canvases are mesmerizing; his compositions
are rendered in pearlescent pigments. Gleason’s work is equally engaging, presenting
a closer nod to the color field painters of the abstract expressionist
movement. Couwenberg defies the stereotype of mid-century modernist
themes and, without irony, brings them into the 21 st century. Filmmaker/artist
Michel Tabori’s work, marked by its rich depth of surface, pulls the viewer into
its joyful-yet-ethereal imagery.The thrilling, gallery-wide installation is accompanied
by multimedia presentations.
January 18, 2008 – Spring
73-100 El Paseo Suite 3A, Palm Desert, California
760.341.1056 • www.modernmastersfineart.com
Jill Moser: New Paintings
Lennon,Weinberg, New York,
New York
Artist Jill Moser is currently having her first
exhibition of paintings in the Big Apple
since 1998. Jill Moser: New Paintings at
Lennon, Weinberg reflects the artist’s continued
development of her own genre of line-based painting.
Here blue is the central focus; swirling circles of
said hue arise out of deep massings of paint, set upon
a blank background.
Mario Merz:The Magnolia Table
Sperone Westwater, New York, New York
When artist Mario Merz
passed away in 2003,
he left behind his own
unique brand of sculpture and an expansive
breadth of work. A small fraction of
his oeuvre can now be seen on display at
New York’s Sperone Westwater, which is
exhibiting a swath of vintage sculpture
and neon produced by the artist in the
70s and 80s.
Jill Moser, No Lark, 2007. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy
Lennon, Weinberg, Inc.
Merz was indoctrinated by his father,
an inventor and engineer, with an innate
fascination for science and mathematics.
After completing two years in medical
school, he refocused his efforts toward
creating his own style that incorporated
these disciplines with mysticism and found
materials. By 1968, Merz had become a leader in the Arte Povera group, an
association of Italian artists collectively bound by a shared anti-elitist aesthetic
and a regard for the incorporation of accessible
materials—specifically, organic and inorganic debris.
Exemplifying the artist’s talent for incorporating
such materials is Pianissimo (Very Softly), a glass and
steel cabinet made in 1984 that elegantly cages a
convergence of beeswax and pinecone. The sculpture
was a prominent fixture in the artist’s major
retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, New
York, in 1989.
Mario Merz, Pianissimo (Very Softly),
1984. Beeswax, pine cone, plexiglas,
steel and aluminum. © 2007 Michael
Short. Image courtesy Sperone
Westwater, New York
November 2 – December 22, 2007
415 West 13th Street, New York, New York
212.999.7337 • www.speronewestwater.com
116 Fall 2007

events
Around the world of Art and Living…
On August 16 th , the Pacific Design Center’s Poggenpohl showroom was packed for Art
and Living’s first ever Art to Life Awards. During the evening’s festivities, four individuals
in different fields were honored for the contributions they have made toward
bringing art into the lives of those around them: in architecture, Richard Landry,
AIA; in furniture design, Janice Feldman; in interior design, Barbara Lazaroff,
ASID; and in fine living development, John Finton. Among the over 300 in attendance
were photographer Julius Shulman, artist Andy Moses, collector Steven
Les Mayers, Geisha. Image courtesy
the artist.
Cohen and gallerist Amanda Shore.
On August 2 nd , A & I Hollywood hosted
the opening of The Photography of Ian Shive,Water
& Sky, Landscape & Nature Photography benefiting
the National Parks Conservation Association.The
exhibition was the first large-scale photography
exhibit of emerging landscape and nature photographer
Ian Shive, whose work can be seen
in the pages of National Geographic Traveler and
Men’s Journal, among others.
Les Mayers’s Geisha was on exhibit at
the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
through August. Geisha is the principal character of an imaginative and mystical story
that was created to help illustrate Mayers’s upcoming project.
In June, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and NBA legend Magic Johnson
were on hand at LA’s BEST’s 12th Annual Family Brunch to honor the Golden
State Warriors’ Baron Davis, Kraft Foods, and comedian George Lopez for their
contributions to the LA’s BEST After School Enrichment program.
Also in June, Assistance League of Southern California held its 2nd Annual
Los Angeles Concours d’Elegance.Vintage Ferraris et al. were in fine form.
Janice Feldman accepts her Art to Life
Award. Photo by Patrick Stanbro.
Art to Life Award honorees John Finton,
Barbara Lazaroff and Richard Landry.
Photo by Patrick Stanbro.
The Photography of Ian Shive opening. Image courtesy Ian Shive Photography.
LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley, Mona Edwards, Jana Cooley, and Art and Living
Publisher Jeff Marinelli at the Los Angeles Concours d’Elegance. Photo by Jillian E. Sorkin.
LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at LA’s BEST’s Annual Family Brunch.
Photo by Jillian E. Sorkin.
118 Fall 2007

FEBRUARY 1–3, 2008
FORT MASON CENTER FESTIVAL PAVILION
GALA PREVIEW OPENING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 7–10 PM
Benefiting the Education Programs of the
ASIAN ART MUSEUM –
CHONG-MOON LEE CENTER
FOR ASIAN ART AND CULTURE
CHAIRED BY
Bob & Lauren Ackerman
Kathy & Paul Bissinger
Martha Hertelendy
Individual Preview Tickets $185
Preview Information 415.581.3788
12TH ANNUAL
SAN FRANCISCO
ARTS OF
PACIFIC ASIA
SHOW
87 International
Antiques & Asian Art Dealers
Exhibiting For Sale,
Furniture, Antiques
& Contemporary Art
In A Museum-like Setting
SPECIAL EXHIBITS
“Reflections of the East – serenity,
timelessness, flow…”, an exhibit
for sale of paintings by Marta Resende
and “What the Sleeping Stones
Dream”, stone sculptures
by Ken Gill. Curated by
Ulrike Montigel of Galerie Arabesque.
SHOW HOURS
Friday & Saturday
11am–7pm
Sunday
11am–5pm
No admittance Sun.
after 4:30pm
Admission $15
includes catalogue
Caskey-Lees PO Box 1409 Topanga, CA 90290 310 455 2886 www.caskeylees.com
Katsukawa Shunsô (Japanese, 1726-1792) Shakkyo, the Lion Dance, around 1787-1788 (Tenmei 7-8). Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on silk (detail). William Sturgis Bigelow Collection.
Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690-1850, at the Asian Art Museum, February 15 - May 4, 2008. This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and was made possible by Fidelity Investments through the Fidelity Foundation.

events
Tiffany’s and Michelle Marie Create
Windows Filled with Joie de Vivre
When the gem of the jewel houses selects an artist’s
works to display in its windows, it’s a reason to celebrate.
Hence, when Tiffany & Co., an arbiter of good taste,
asked artist Michelle Marie for some of her recent
works to adorn their New York storefront, Marie’s husband
Jon Heinemann and friends Michele Gerber
Klein, Michel Cox Witmer, Alice and Paul
Judelson, R.Couri Hay, Susan Tabak, Diane Lewis
and Roger Webster hosted a cocktail party in recognition
of the occasion at the private club Doubles.
Guests included Wendy Carduner;Sharon Bush;
Elena and George Stephanopoulos; designers Mary
Michelle Marie and Jon Heinemann. © Patrick
McMullan. Photo by Bennett Dansby PMc.
McFadden, Maggie Norris and Jackie Rogers; Mark Gilbertson; Emma
Snowdon-Jones; the Honorable Robert Spencer; Campion and Tatiana
Platt; Tiffany’s Vice President Robert Rufino; Franck Laverdin of Boccara
Gallery; MoMA’s Olivia Striffler; the Guggenheim’s Adrienne Hines; Wally
Findlay Gallery’s Liana Piretra; Maya Stendhal Gallery’s Harry Stendhal; interi-
Brigitte Maasland and
Michel Cox Witmer. ©
Patrick McMullan. Photo by
Bennett Dansby PMc.
or designer Geoffrey Bradfield;
and artists Colette,
Anton
Perich, Roslyn Engelman,
Michael Hennesey,
Henry
Vincent, and John Rosenquist.
“Each window told a story
about a woman’s personality,”
said Robert Rufino, vice president
of creative services for Tiffany &
Co., at the event. “I thought the
Tiffany items would romance the
paintings and vice versa.”
A wife, mother, painter, sculptor, musician, and more,
Michelle Marie grew up in Atlanta and studied painting in
Paris. She made an impressive debut in New York in a show at Gallery 54,
where the exhibition drew excellent reviews.
Art collector Michel Gerber Klein summed up the artist’s work succinctly:“Michelle
Marie’s art is very interesting because it explores the boundaries
between art and design.” Diane Dunne

CARL ANDRE
zinc
ACE GALLERY