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.

Peter Voulkos and John Mason Studio

John Mason and Peter Voulkos

John Mason and Peter Voulkos photographing a sculpture outside their shared studio on Glendale Boulevard in Los Angeles, ca. 1959. Courtesy of the Voulkos & Co. Catalogue Project

In the late 1950s, Peter Voulkos and John Mason shared a studio on Glendale Boulevard at the corner of Baxter Street near the Silver Lake Reservoir. At that time, the neighborhood was nicknamed “Mixville” because of a former movie studio that was run nearby by Tom Mix, a star of early Westerns. The building that housed their studio had once been an old stable.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • Vertical Sculpture, Spear Form

    Vertical Sculpture, Spear Form, 1957, John Mason. Glazed stoneware. 67 5/16 x 28 x 12 in. Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum. © John Mason

  • Little Big Horn

    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

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Peter Voulkos

    Video: Irving Blum, John Mason, and Billy Al Bengston speak about the work of Peter Voulkos, 2010–11

  • Video: John Mason

    Video: John Mason speaks about his work, March 2010

  • Henry Takemoto, ca. 1959

    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