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.

Suzanne Lacy
Artist

Cover of High Performance issue no. 1 featuring Suzanne Lacy's Cinderalla in a Dragster (1976), 1978.

Cover of High Performance issue no. 1 featuring Suzanne Lacy's Cinderalla in a Dragster (1976), 1978. Courtesy Linda Frye Burnham, Suzanne Lacy, and Susan Mogul

Suzanne Lacy was born in 1945 in Wasco, California. She initially studied zoological sciences and psychology before a meeting Judy Chicago, who was then teaching at Cal State Fresno, prompted her switch to art. When Chicago’s Feminist Art Program moved to CalArts, Lacy went as well, earning her MFA there in 1973. Highly involved with the feminist art movement, Lacy collaborated with Leslie Labowitz-Starus to develop Three Weeks in May, a performance spread over three weeks that focused media attention on rape and sexual violence against women.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • In Mourning and In Rage media performance at Los Angeles City Hall

    In Mourning and In Rage media performance at Los Angeles City Hall, December 13, 1977, Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus. Gelatin silver prints documenting the event by Susan Mogul. 7 15/16 x 10 3/16 in. The Getty Research Institute, Lawrence Alloway Papers, 2003.M.46. Photo courtesy of Susan Mogul

  • Ablutions performance

    Ablutions performance at Guy Dill’s studio, with Judy Chicago, Suzanne Lacy, Sandra Orgel, and Aviva Rahmani (Sponsored by Feminist Art Program at CalArts), 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Art in the Public Interest and 18th Street Arts Center, 2006.M.8.42. Photo courtesy Lloyd Hamrol

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Art of Protest—Artist Suzanne Lacy

    Video: Art of Protest—Artist Suzanne Lacy discusses the connection between art and activism

  • Womanhouse catalogue

    Womanhouse catalogue, Feminist Art Program at CalArts, 1972. Designed by Sheila Levrant de Bretteville. The Getty Research Institute, 89-B23677. Courtesy of CalArts Archives

  • Womanhouse announcement

    Womanhouse announcement, 1972. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Rolf G. Nelson, 2010.M.38.6. Courtesy of Sheila Levrant de Bretteville