Explore the Era

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

From the Archive

Womanhouse catalogue

Womanhouse catalogue, Feminist Art Program at CalArts, 1972. Designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. The Getty Research Institute, 89-B23677. Courtesy of CalArts Archives

Womanhouse was the first project of the newly-established Feminist Art Program at CalArts. Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, working with their students and a few other women artists, took over an old mansion on Mariposa Street in Hollywood and converted into a space for installations and performances exploring women’s domestic space. Womanhouse was open for a month in February 1972.

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Exhibition audio: Judy Chicago and curator John Tain talk about Womanhouse.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • In Mourning and In Rage media performance at Los Angeles City Hall

    In Mourning and In Rage media performance at Los Angeles City Hall, December 13, 1977, Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus. Gelatin silver prints documenting the event by Susan Mogul. 7 15/16 x 10 3/16 in. The Getty Research Institute, Lawrence Alloway Papers, 2003.M.46. Photo courtesy of Susan Mogul

  • Car Hood

    Car Hood, 1964, Judy Chicago. Sprayed acrylic lacquer on Corvair car hood. 42 15/16 x 49 3/16 x 4 5/16 in. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Acquired 2007 with means from The Second Museum of our Wishes. © Judy Chicago, 1964. Photo © Donald Woodman

  • Big Blue Pink from the Flesh Gardens series

    Big Blue Pink from the Flesh Gardens series, 1971, Judy Chicago. Sprayed acrylic lacquer on acrylic. 96 in x 96 in. Tom Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles. © Judy Chicago, 1971. Photo © Donald Woodman

  • Ablutions performance

    Ablutions performance at Guy Dill’s studio, with Judy Chicago, Suzanne Lacy, Sandra Orgel, and Aviva Rahmani (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Art in the Public Interest and 18th Street Arts Center, 2006.M.8.42. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol

Explore the Archive

  • Video: The Womanhouse Kitchen

    Video: Experience the Womanhouse Kitchen. Excerpt from the documentary film Womanhouse, 1974, directed by Johanna Demetrakas. The Getty Research Institute, 2896-034. © Johanna Demetrakas

  • Video: Barbara T. Smith on art schools

    Video: Learn more about the region’s network of art schools with artist Barbara T. Smith

  • Announcement for Judy Chicago exhibition

    Announcement for Judy Chicago exhibition at California State University, Fullerton, October 23– November 25, 1970. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.5. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan.

  • Womanspace journal

    Cover of Womanspace journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 1973. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.20. Courtesy of Judy Chicago

  • Selected Press Reaction

    Selected Press Reaction to “Sex Differentials in Art Exhibition Reviews,” publication by Tamarind Lithography Workshop, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.21. Courtesy of June Wayne/Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc.

  • Los Angeles Council of Women Artists Report

    Los Angeles Council of Women Artists Report, June 15, 1971. The Getty Research Institute, 2003.M.46

  • Womanhouse announcement

    Womanhouse announcement, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.6. Courtesy of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

  • Womanhouse installation in Los Angeles

    Womanhouse installation in Los Angeles, featuring Robin Weltsch’s Kitchen and Vicki Hodgetts’s Eggs to Breasts (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, 2000.M.43.1. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol