Jepson Art Institute&raquo;Pacific Standard Time at the Getty

Delve into the postwar Los Angeles art world in this online archive, which provides additional material related to the exhibitions on view at the Getty Center. Learn about hipsters and happenings, and the venues across the city where all the action took place through images from the archives and first-hand accounts with the artists.

Jepson Art Institute

Jepson Art Institute was founded by artist Herbert Jepson in 1945 at this location in downtown Los Angeles. Jepson had taught at Chouinard Art Institute since the early 1930s, but he decided to form his own school whose specialties included figure drawing, art theory, and printmaking. The institute attracted students such as Frederick Hammersley (who went on to become an instructor there), and for a short time Wallace Berman. Its instructors included painters Rico Lebrun and Francis de Erdeley. The Jepson Art Institute closed its doors in 1954, after which Jepson went on to teach at Otis Art Institute, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Historic Map Locations

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Up with in, 1957–58, Frederick Hammersley. Oil on linen. 47 7/8 x 36 in. Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Estate of Walter and Elise Mosher. © The Frederick Hammersley Foundation. Photo: Schenck & Schenck, Claremont
Homage to Hermann Hesse, 1949 (modified 1954), Wallace Berman. Wood. 59 x 21 3/16 x 17 7/8 in. Collection of Joy Stockwell. Permission courtesy of the Estate of Wallace Berman and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles