Marjorie Cameron
Artist
Cameron in a film still from Curtis Harrington's Night Tide, 1961. Courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation
Marjorie Cameron (1922–1995) was born in Belle Plain, Iowa, and enlisted in the Navy in the 1940s, where she drew maps and worked in a photographic unit, an experience that motivated her to pursue art classes after World War II. Cameron later met and married Jack Parsons, a spiritualist and mystic who was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Like his friend L. Ron Hubbard, Parsons was a follower of occultist Aleister Crowley. Cameron and her magical aura were influential to artists Wallace Berman and George Herms, both of whom she met in the early 1950s. Her whimsical and sometimes disturbing works depict ethereal metamorphoses and transformations.
Works of Art
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Untitled (Portrait of Crystal), ca. 1961, Marjorie Cameron. Ink and gouache on wood panel. 43 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. Collection of Scott Hobbs. Permission courtesy of Cameron Parons Foundation
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Untitled (Peyote Vision), 1955, Cameron (from Semina journal, no. 1). Reproduction of ink drawing mounted on cardstock. 3 13/16 x 4 in. Courtesy of Cameron Parsons Foundation
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Semina cover with photograph of Cameron, 1955, Wallace Berman. Semina journal, no. 1 (1955) by Wallace Berman. Gelatin silver print mounted on cardstock. 7 1/2 x 4 in. The Getty Research Institute, 2564-801.no1.2. Courtesy of the Estate of Wallace Berman and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Explore the Archive
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Video: Artist George Herms shares anecdotes about the California assemblage community
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Video: Arts advocate Lyn Kienholz talks about censorship in the L.A. art scene
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Video: George Herms speaks about the work of Cameron, 2002. Footage courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation
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Cameron, ca. 1955. Courtesy of the Cameron Parsons Foundation
