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.

Joe Goode
Artist

Joe Goode, ca. 1970

Joe Goode in his studio, ca. 1970. Image courtesy of Steven Steinman. © Steven Steinman

Joe Goode was born in 1937 in Oklahoma City, and decided to attend the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, where his friends Ed Ruscha and Jerry McMillan were also enrolled. Goode became known for his large-scale monochromatic milk bottle paintings and cloud imagery that played with perception and everyday objects. After participating in the controversial War Babies exhibition at Henry Hopkins’s Huysman Gallery in 1961, he had his first solo show at the Dilexi Gallery in Los Angeles in 1962.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • Torn Cloud Painting 73

    Torn Cloud Painting 73, 1972, Joe Goode. Oil on canvas. 72 x 96 in. Collection of Joe Goode & Hiromi Katayama. © Joe Goode

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Lyn Kienholz on censorship

    Video: Arts advocate Lyn Kienholz talks about censorship in the L.A. art scene

  • Video: Joe Goode, Larry Bell, Ron Miyashiro, and Jerry McMillan

    Video: Joe Goode, Larry Bell, Ron Miyashiro, and Jerry McMillan speak about the exhibition War Babies, 2010–11

  • Video: Joe Goode

    Video: Joe Goode speaks about his work, March 2011

  • Poster for Joe Goode exhibition

    Poster for Joe Goode exhibition at Dilexi Gallery in Los Angeles, 1963. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Michael Asher, 2009.M.30.15. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan

  • Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan, Ed Ruscha, and Patrick Blackwell

    Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan, Ed Ruscha, and Patrick Blackwell in the studio space they shared while in school at Chouinard, ca. 1959. Photo by Patrick Blackwell. Courtesy of the Joe Goode Studio

  • Poster for the exhibition New Painting of Common Objects

    Poster for the exhibition New Painting of Common Objects at the Pasadena Art Museum, 1962. Wood-type letterpress on paper. 42 3/8 x 28 in. Image courtesy of the Ed Ruscha Studio

  • Poster for "War babies" exhibition

    Poster for the exhibition War Babies at Huysman Gallery in Los Angeles, May 29–June 17, 1961. Poster created by Jerry McMillan and Joe Goode. Photo © Jerry McMillan. Design © Joe Goode. The Getty Research Institute, 2006.M.1.5. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica

  • Ed Ruscha and Joe Goode on horseback

    Ed Ruscha and Joe Goode on horseback. Exhibition catalogue cover for the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor at the Balboa Pavillion Gallery, 1968. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica. © Jerry McMillan