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

Abstract Classicists

Abstract Classicists meet at Lorser Feitelson’s studio in Los Angeles, May 10, 1959

Curator Jules Langsner (far left) meets with the Abstract Classicists at Lorser Feitelson’s studio in Los Angeles, May 10, 1959. Left to right: Karl Benjamin, John McLaughlin, Frederick Hammersley, and Lorser Feitelson. From the cover of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art’s Journal, no. 5 (1975). Paintings hanging on the wall are by Helen Lundeberg. © Feitelson Arts Foundation. Image courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts. Photo © Harry Carmean, 1959.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • Up with in

    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

  • Untitled (Red on White Optical)

    Untitled (Red on White Optical), 1964, Lorser Feitelson. Oil on canvas. 60 x 40 in. Courtesy of D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc., New York. Image © Feitelson Arts Foundation, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts. © Photo by Casey Brown

  • Stage II

    Stage II, 1958, Karl Benjamin. Oil on canvas. 50 x 70 in. Collection of Louis Stern. © Karl Benjamin, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts. ©Photography by Gerard Vuilleumier

  • Magical Space Forms

    Magical Space Forms, 1948, Lorser Feitelson. Oil on board. 30 x 39 ¾ in. Collection of Bunty and Tom Armstrong, New York. © Feitelson Arts Foundation, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts. © Photography by Gerard Vuilleumier

  • Blue Planet

    Blue Planet, 1965, Helen Lundeberg. Acrylic on canvas. 60 x 60 in. The Marilynn and Carl Thoma Collection. © Feitelson Arts Foundation, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Arts

  • #18–1961

    #18–1961, 1961, John McLaughlin. Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 in. Private Collection

  • #8, 1966, John McLaughlin.

    # 8, 1966, John McLaughlin. Oil on canvas. 48 x 60 in. The Marilynn and Carl Thoma Collection. Image courtesy of Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Karl Benjamin

    Video: Karl Benjamin speaks about his work, December 2009

  • Modern dancer and paintings by Feitelson

    Modern dancer with paintings by Lorser Feitelson, 1949. Image courtesy of Feitelson Arts Foundation and Louis Stern Fine Arts. © Feitelson Arts Foundation

  • Karl Benjamin with Andrew Perchuk

    Andrew Perchuk of the Getty Research Institute conducting an oral history interview with Karl Benjamin in 2010. © J. Paul Getty Trust

  • John McLaughlin

    John McLaughlin in front of one of his paintings, ca. 1975. Photo by Frank J. Thomas. Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives

  • Helen Lundeberg

    Helen Lundeberg in front of one of her paintings. Photo by Frank J. Thomas. Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives

  • Poster for Karl Benjamin exhibition

    Poster for Karl Benjamin exhibition at the Esther-Robles Gallery in Los Angeles, 1964. © Karl Benjamin. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Michael Asher, 2009.M.30.12

  • Audio: Frederick Hammersley

    Audio: Frederick Hammersley speaks about his work, February 2003