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.

Concord #9

Concord #9

Concord #9, 1963, Ron Miyashiro. Wood, cardboard, and acrylic. 10 5/8 x 15 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. Courtesy of the artist and Cardwell Jimmerson. © Ron Miyashiro

Ron Miyashiro’s Concord sculptures combine found objects with simple materials such as wood and cardboard. Though small in scale, the dark colors and imposing machine-like forms of these assemblage sculptures hint at troubling subjects, such as aggression, confinement, and war. Several also incorporate more organic forms, including narrow orifices that suggest a dark sexuality. Miyashiro was one of the four young artists included in War Babies, the controversial 1961 exhibition at Henry Hopkins’s Huysman Gallery; there, Miyashiro showed small paintings with darkly erotic undertones that anticipated the somber quality of his Concord series.

Loading the player...

Exhibition audio: Learn about Miyashiro’s interest in airplanes.

Historic Map Locations

Works of Art

  • Concord #8

    Concord #8, 1963, Ron Miyashiro. Wood, cardboard, and enamel. 11 5/8 x 5 7/8 x 6 1/4 in. Collection of Diana Zlotnick. © Ron Miyashiro. Photo courtesy of Cardwell Jimmerson and the artist

  • Concord #11

    Concord #11, 1964, Ron Miyashiro. Wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, and enamel. 15 x 12 1/2 x 12 ½ in. The Buck Collection, Laguna Beach, California. © Ron Miyashiro. Photo courtesy Cardwell Jimmerson and the artist

Explore the Archive

  • Video: Joe Goode, Larry Bell, Ron Miyashiro, and Jerry McMillan

    Video: Joe Goode, Larry Bell, Ron Miyashiro, and Jerry McMillan speak about the exhibition War Babies, 2010–11

  • Video: Ron Miyashiro

    Video: Ron Miyashiro speaks about his work, June 2010

  • Ron Miyashiro and Rani Singh

    Rani Singh, Getty Research Institute, conducts an oral history interview with Ron Miyashiro in 2010. Art © Ron Miyashiro

  • Ron Miyashiro

    Ron Miyashiro in front of one of his paintings, ca. 1961. Courtesy of the artist and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. © Ron Miyashiro

  • Poster for "War babies" exhibition

    Poster for the exhibition War Babies at Huysman Gallery in Los Angeles, May 29–June 17, 1961. Poster created by Jerry McMillan and Joe Goode. Photo © Jerry McMillan. Design © Joe Goode. The Getty Research Institute, 2006.M.1.5. Image courtesy of Jerry McMillan and Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica