Otis 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.

Otis Art Institute

Established in 1918, Otis Art Institute was originally located on the edge of MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles. In the late 1940s, John Altoon and Robert Irwin studied there. In the 1950s, Otis became a center for the study of ceramics under Peter Voulkos. Artists such as John Mason, Paul Soldner, Ken Price, and Billy Al Bengston sought out his unconventional teaching style as well as Otis’s newly built ceramics building. Today the school’s campus is located on Lincoln Boulevard in Westchester, near Los Angeles International Airport, and the school is called Otis College of Art and Design.

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Vertical Sculpture, Spear Form, 1957, John Mason. Glazed stoneware. 67 5/16 x 28 x 12 in. Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum. © John Mason
Sonny, 1961, Billy Al Bengston. Oil on Masonite. 36 x 36 in. Billy Al Bengston Studio Holdings. © Billy Al Bengston. Photo by Brian Forrest
Ocean Park Series, 1962, John Altoon. Oil on canvas. 72 x 84 in. Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA: Museum purchase with additional funds provided by Dr. James B. Pick and Dr. Rosalyn M. Laudati, Mr. Ward Chamberlin, Mrs. E.G. Chamberlin, Patricia Fredericks, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Neisser, Mr. and Mrs. John Martin Shea, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Goldstein, Zada Taylor, Mr. David H. Steinmetz, and Mrs. Bernard McDonald. Permission courtesy of the Estate of John Altoon and Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Photo by Gene Ogami
Little Big Horn, 1959, Peter Voulkos. Polychromed stoneware. 62 x 40 x 40 in. The Oakland Museum of California, gift of the Art Guild in memory of Helen Schilling Stelzner. © Mrs. Ann Voulkos, Voulkos Family Trust. Image courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project. Photo by Joe Schopplein
Black on White, 2011, Robert Irwin. Granite. 60 x 36 x 392 in. This work was commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Trust in honor of James N. Wood. © Robert Irwin
These images show a model of the installation, the quarry in India where the granite was sourced, and the piece after delivery to the fabricator.
Avocado Mountain, 1959, Ken Price. Glazed ceramics (2 parts). 24 x 21 x 21 in. James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles. Permission courtesy Ken Price Studio

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Video: Irving Blum and Billy Al Bengston speak about the work of John Altoon, 2010-11
Video: Documentation of the artistic process, fabrication, and installation of Robert Irwin’s installation Black on White
Video: Irving Blum, John Mason, and Billy Al Bengston speak about the work of Peter Voulkos, 2010–11
Video: Billy Al Bengston speaks about his work, March 2010
Video: John Mason speaks about his work, March 2010
Henry Takemoto and Peter Voulkos in front of Takemoto's mural at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, 1959. Image courtesy of Henry Takemoto
Henry Takemoto with one of his coiled glazed stoneware pots at the studio of John Mason and Peter Voulkos, Los Angeles, ca. 1959. Image courtesy of Henry Takemoto
Peter Voulkos, John Mason, and Paul Soldner at Otis Art Institute (now called Otis College of Art and Design) in Los Angeles, 1956. Image courtesy of Soldner Enterprises and Stephanie Soldner Sullivan

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