The Getty Foundation recently announced that the University Art Museum (UAM) was chosen to receive part of a $3.1 million grant to fund its forthcoming initiative highlighting a post-World War II California, beginning September 2011 through fall 2012.
The initiative, called “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,” is the largest collaboration among Southern California museums, according to the Getty Foundation Web site.
The grant will be divided among 26 institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, the Long Beach Museum of Latin American Art and the Orange County Museum of Art. Each will focus on a different aspect of the 35-year span.
The UAM is receiving $57,000 to fund the research and installation of its portion of the collaboration, which is called “Peace Press Graphics 1967-1987: Art in the Pursuit of Social Change.” The exhibition will feature 50 to 75 posters from the archives of Peace Press, a writer’s collective. The graphics on the posters document key events and ideas of different artists who were opinionated, passionate and living in the post-war environment.
“It was started by anti-Vietnam War activists because they couldn’t find a commercial printing house to print their fliers,” said Ilee Kaplan, associate director of the UAM. “It was too controversial at the time.”
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) is in partnership with the Los Angeles-based company, which archives about 70,000 political posters. CSPG Director Carol Wells will curate the UAM exhibition, which will also include music, film, spoken-word performances, a historical timeline, film clips and poetry.
“An archive of 170 posters came to the CSPG from the Peace Press and our exhibition is drawing from that archive,” Kaplan said. “We want to give a very rich array of cultural items and ideas that lived on during that time.”
The posters express Californian progressive groups’ ideas on political issues such as feminism, workers’ rights, civil liberties, anti-nuclear protests, environmental concerns and anti-war demonstrations. It reflects the desire and intention to create social and political change through their art, works and actions.
“This initiative will definitely drive cultural tourism to our city and show the world all we have to offer,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a Getty Foundation press release. “‘Pacific Standard Time’ reinforces Los Angeles’ reputation as a major cultural destination.”
Part of the Getty Foundation’s goal is to give museums the opportunity to do more extensive research than they normally do for exhibitions, Kaplan said. The museum had to go through an extensive process of grant proposals and was reviewed by a panel to get funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
“We get money from any kind of donations from corporations, from businesses, individuals, private foundations, a wide variety of sources,” said UAM Director Chris Scoates.
A catalogue will also be published to accompany the exhibition, which will contain three essays about the Peace Press, similar art collectives throughout the country and the value of artwork for social change, Kaplan said.
“The [catalogue] is a big benefit of the grant. It has given us the opportunity to publish a book about the scholarship that’s being developed, which will be the lasting document of the exhibition,” Scoates said. “The book will be distributed to libraries and bookstores.”
According to the Getty Foundation Web site, it is a Los Angeles-based organization that fulfills the philanthropic mission of J. Paul Getty by supporting individuals and institutions that are dedicated to promoting the understanding and the legacy of visual arts globally.
“This Getty initiative is going to have the effect of really changing the course of Southern California art history by getting arts institutions to collaborate, by emphasizing research and scholarship, and by supporting a critical mass of coinciding exhibitions,” said Hugh Davies, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, in a press release.
Anyone is welcome to visit the UAM displays by scheduling an appointment with Education Curator Brian Trimble.