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.

Bruce Nauman
Artist

Bruce Nauman in his studio

Bruce Nauman in his studio in Pasadena, California, ca. 1970. Photo by Frank J. Thomas. Courtesy of the Frank J. Thomas Archives

Bruce Nauman was born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of California, Davis, where he received his MFA in 1966. Soon after graduating, his work gained the attention of Los Angeles gallerist Nicholas Wilder, earning him early exhibitions and recognition. From the start of his career, Nauman approached art more as an activity than a finished product; in this respect, process, repetition, and failure have become components of his sculptures, installations, and videos. He was a pioneer of video art, combining monitors with closed-circuit spaces that confine and challenge the viewer.

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Explore the Archive

  • Announcement, "Broxton Sequences"

    Exhibition announcement for Broxton Sequences: Sequential Imagery in Photography, at Broxton Gallery, 1976. The Getty Research Institute, Gift of Hal Glicksman, 2009.M.5.5. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery