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

Judy Chicago and Sunset Squares installation

Judy Gerowitz, also known as Judy Chicago, with her Sunset Squares installation at Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles, 1966. © 2011 Judy Chicago / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan

In 1964, the Rolf Nelson Gallery relocated to a larger space, and held shows by Judy Chicago (then known as Judy Gerowitz), Lloyd Hamrol, Jess, Irving Petlin, Robert Indiana, and Iain Baxter. Chicago had her first one-person show with Nelson in 1965. For her exhibition in 1966, she showed a series of wooden geometric sculptures, including Sunset Squares. She then participated in the influential Primary Structures exhibition that helped define Minimalism.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • 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: Judy Chicago

    Video: Judy Chicago speaks about her work, April 2011

  • Video: the postwar L.A. gallery scene

    Video: Making the Scene—find out about the L.A. gallery scene during the postwar years

  • 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.

  • Hard Edge group exhibition

    Hard Edge group exhibition with works by Ronald Davis and Judy Chicago at Rolf Nelson Gallery in Los Angeles, May 1964. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.2

  • 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

  • Los Angeles artists at Culture Day at LACMA, 1968

    Several Los Angeles artists at Culture Day at LACMA (L.A. County Museum of Art), 1968. Photo by and © Julian Wasser.

  • 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 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