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.

Frederick Hammersley
Artist

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

Frederick Hammersley (1919–2009) was raised in Idaho. He moved to Los Angeles after serving in World War II to study at Chouinard Art Institute and, later, Jepson Art Institute. Though he first worked as a figurative painter, he developed a style of abstraction that incorporated biomorphic and surrealist tendencies. The crisp geometric forms in his paintings contribute to what was dubbed hard-edge painting, a style unique to Southern California that was also practiced by painters Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, John McLaughlin, and Helen Lundeberg. Hammersley was also a dedicated professor, teaching first at Jepson and later at Pomona College, Chouinard, and the University of New Mexico.

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

Explore the Archive

  • Abstract Classicists

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

  • Audio: Frederick Hammersley

    Audio: Frederick Hammersley speaks about his work, February 2003