From 1969 to 1973, a series of radical art projects took place at the far eastern edge of Los Angeles county at the Pomona College Museum of Art. Here, Hal Glicksman, a pioneering curator of Light and Space art, and Helene Winer, later the director of Artists Space and Metro Pictures in New York, curated landmark exhibitions by young local artists who bridged the gap between post-Minimalism and Conceptual art and presaged the development of post-Minimalism in the later 1970s.

Artists such as Michael Asher, Lewis Baltz, Jack Goldstein, and Allen Ruppersberg, among others, formed the educational backdrop for a generation of artists who spent their formative years at Pomona College, including alumni Mowry Baden, Chris Burden, and James Turrell. Providing unprecedented and revelatory insight into the art history of postwar Los Angeles, It Happened at Pomona chronicles the activities of artists, scholars, students, and faculty associated with the College during this period. The project takes the form of a three-part exhibition, public events, and a substantial publication that document this era at Pomona College and a transformative moment for art history.

Sponsor

It Happened at Pomona: Art at the Edge of Los Angeles 1969-1973 is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980. Pacific Standard Time is a collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together for six months beginning in October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world. Each institution will make its own contribution to this grand-scale story of artistic innovation and social change, told through a multitude of simultaneous exhibitions and programs. Exploring and celebrating the significance of the crucial post-World War II years through the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 70s, Pacific Standard Time encompasses developments from L.A. Pop to post-minimalism; from modernist architecture and design to multi-media installations; from the films of the African American L.A. Rebellion to the feminist activities of the Woman’s Building; from ceramics to Chicano performance art; and from Japanese American design to the pioneering work of artists’ collectives.

Initiated through $10 million in grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time involves cultural institutions of every size and character across Southern California, from Greater Los Angeles to San Diego and Santa Barbara to Palm Springs.

Support for the It Happened at Pomona exhibition, publication, and programming generously provided by the Getty Foundation.

August 30, 2011 – May 13, 2012 at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College

Curators

The exhibition is curated by Rebecca McGrew, Senior Curator at Pomona College Museum of Art, and Glenn Phillips, Principal Project Specialist and Consulting Curator in the Department of Architecture and Contemporary Art of the Getty Research Institute