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.

From the Archive

Protest outside Ferus Gallery

Protest on La Cienega Boulevard, outside the Ferus Gallery, May 15, 1965. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Photo by Charles Brittin

The Artists Protest Committee, assembled by the artist Irving Petlin, staged various actions against the Vietnam War in May of 1965. Among them was a “White Out” on Gallery Row, in which participating artists and dealers covered work in white paper. The police intervened when activists began posting signs on parking meters and lamp posts.

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Explore the Archive

  • Video: Art of Protest—Artist Suzanne Lacy

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

  • Video: Video: Charles Brittin speaks about the Peace Tower

    Video: Charles Brittin speaks about the Peace Tower (Artist's Tower of Protest, 1966), November 2006

  • Artists’ protest poster

    Artists’ protest poster and manifesto, "Stop: We Dissent," 1965. Designed by Hardy Hanson. Courtesy of the artist. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11.30

  • Poster for Richard Pettibone exhibition

    Poster for Richard Pettibone exhibition Wanted: $2000 Reward at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1966. Courtesy of the artist. Offset lithograph mounted on board. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Irving Blum, 2009.M.37.2

  • Poster for Craig Kauffman exhibition

    Poster for Craig Kauffman exhibition at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1962. © The Estate of Craig Kauffman. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Michael Asher, 2009.M.30.16. Courtesy Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California

  • Susan Sontag at the Peace Tower installation

    Susan Sontag at the Peace Tower installation in Los Angeles, February 26, 1966. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11. Photo by and © Annette Del Zoppo

  • Panels at the Peace Tower

    Four young women looking at panels at the Peace Tower installation in Los Angeles, February 1966. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Photo by Charles Brittin

  • Peace Tower installation

    Peace Tower installation in Los Angeles, 1966. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11.37. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Photo by Charles Brittin

  • Poster for The Studs group exhibition

    Poster for The Studs group exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1964. Image courtesy of Hal Glicksman

  • 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.

  • “Artists Against Escalation” protest

    “Artists Against Escalation” protest at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), May 16, 1965. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11.32. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Photo by Charles Brittin

  • 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.

  • Poster for the “Angry Arts” Against the War Peace Walk

    Poster for the “Angry Arts” Against the War Peace Walk, 1967. Designed by Hardy Hanson. Courtesy of the artist. The Getty Research Institute, Charles Brittin papers, 2005.M.11.31