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.

William Claxton
Artist

William Claxton, 1955

William Claxton in 1955. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.

William Claxton (1927–2008) was born in Pasadena, California, and studied psychology at UCLA. Photography began as a hobby for Claxton, but he rose to prominence in the 1950s as a photographer of the music scene, portraying jazz musicians in their most raw and ecstatic states. Along with his wife, the famed model Peggy Moffitt, Claxton was a key player in the 1960s Ferus Gallery circle, where he produced some of the most iconic portraits of the gallery’s artists and patrons.

Explore the Archive

  • The Lite Show

    The Lite Show at the Gas House in Venice, California, 1959. Photo by William Claxton. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.

  • Ferus Gallery, Edward Kienholz installation

    Exterior view of the Ferus Gallery during the exhibition of Edward Kienholz's installation Roxy's, 1962. Photo by William Claxton. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.

  • Irving Blum with Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans

    Irving Blum with Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1962. Photo by William Claxton. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.

  • Artists outside the Ferus Gallery

    Artists outside the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1959. Clockwise from top: Billy Al Bengston, Irving Blum, Ed Moses, and John Altoon. Photo by William Claxton. Courtesy Demont Photo Management, LLC.