Los Angeles Downtown #3, 1971, Anthony Hernandez. Gelatin silver print. 7 3/4 x 11 13/16 in. Purchased in part with finds provided by the Photographs Council of the J. Paul Getty Museum. © Anthony Hernandez

Los Angeles (US 257/10a), negative, 1976; print, 1980, Grant Mudford. Gelatin silver print. 19 1/4 x 13 1/8 in. © Grant Mudford

The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire, 1965–68, Ed Ruscha. Oil on canvas. 53 1/2 x 133 1/2 in. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972. © Ed Ruscha. Photography by Lee Stalsworth

Los Angeles International Airport, 1964, Garry Winogrand. Gelatin silver print. 13 1/2 x 8 15/16 in. © 1984 The Estate of Garry Winogrand

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

Magicians Garden, 1963, Billy and Joan Jahrmarkt. Verifax on cardstock and metal screw. Self-published book. 3 5/8 x 2 9/16 x 5/8 in. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of George Herms, 2009.M.20 © Billy and Joan Jahrmarkt

Ed Moses with his installation at Mizuno Gallery, 1970. Image courtesy of and © Billy Al Bengston

Morphe #11 (Cloud), 1974, Jo Ann Callis. Gelatin silver print. 6 x 8 7/8 in. Gift of Gay Block. © Jo Ann Callis

Morphe #6 (Islands), 1974, Jo Ann Callis. Gelatin silver print. 6 x 8 15/16 in. Gift of Gay Block. © Jo Ann Callis

Exterior view of Nicholas Wilder Gallery at the time of Ronald Davis's first solo exhibition in 1965. Image courtesy of Ronald Davis

Norman Zammitt executing his painting North Wall, 1976. Acrylic on canvas. 96 x 168 in. Collection of Leon Gazarian & Monique Powell. © Norman Zammitt Estate

Exhibition announcement for Action²: Works by West Coast Painters, at the NOW Gallery inside the Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles, September 5–25, 1956. Robert Alexander, designer. Letterpress on paper mounted on cardboard. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11.15. Courtesy of the Temple of Man, Inc.

Ocean Park No. 26, 1970, Richard Diebenkorn. Oil on canvas. 89 x 81 in. Nerman Family Collection. © The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn, Catalogue Raisonné #2415

Ocean Park No. 67, 1973, Richard Diebenkorn. Oil on canvas. 100 x 81 in. The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. © The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn, Catalogue Raisonné #1482

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