Getty Museum initiative to examine Los Angeles’ modern architectural heritage from April through July 2013

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Getty announced Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., a collaborative celebration of one of Southern California’s most lasting contributions to post-World War II cultural life: modern architecture.

Designed to continue the momentum of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945–1980, last year’s sweeping initiative that included exhibitions and programs at 60 arts institutions across Southern California, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., will be smaller in scope, comprising eleven exhibitions and accompanying programs and events in and around Los Angeles slated for April through July 2013.

“We wanted to continue our exploration of the region’s postwar visual arts and culture, but obviously we can’t do an initiative on the scale of Pacific Standard Time every year,” said Jim Cuno, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust. “Pacific Standard Time Presents will be smaller in size and geographic reach, but will again spur original scholarship and maintain the collaborative spirit of Pacific Standard Time.”

Julius Shulman (American, 1910 – 2009), Gelatin silver print, 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.). Accession No. 2004.R.10.52© J. Paul Getty Trust.

Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. will provide a wideranging look at the region’s modern architectural heritage, as well as the significant contributions of L.A. architects to national and global developments in architecture. It will examine a broad array of practitioners, from pioneering modernists like Richard Neutra and Pritzker Prize winners such as Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne, to other visionary architects who have been critical to shaping the region’s distinctive profile, including A. Quincy Jones, Whitney Rowland Smith and Eric Owen Moss. Exhibitions and related programming will explore a range of building types, from iconic modernist homes and civic landmarks such as Disney Hall, to the whimsical coffee shops and vast freeway networks that made Los Angeles the unique megalopolis it is today.

Exhibition partners include Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); Hammer Museum; the Getty; A+D Architecture and Design Museum; Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara; Kellogg University Art Gallery at Cal Poly Pomona; MAK Center for Art and Architecture; and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Additional programming partners include the Center for Land Use Interpretation; Community Art Resources, Inc.; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; the Los Angeles Conservancy; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Machine Project; Pasadena Heritage; and the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design.

“Los Angeles is primarily known for its experimental residential architecture, but Modern Architecture in L.A. will show that the region’s design innovations extended to its infrastructure, civic and commercial buildings, and much more,” said Deborah Marrow, Director of the Getty Foundation, which has made $3.6 million in grants to 16 organizations for exhibitions, publications and programming. “We are very pleased with the caliber of exhibitions, publications and related programming that will make up Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. this spring. This initiative promises to reveal the city’s architectural legacy and ongoing impact in new ways.”

Among the exhibitions will be the J. Paul Getty Museum’s Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990, organized by the Getty Research Institute, which will be the first major museum exhibition to survey Los Angeles’s built environment and rapid postwar evolution into one of the most populous and influential industrial, economic and creative capitals in the world. The J. Paul Getty Museum will also present In Focus: Ed Ruscha, offering a concentrated look at Ruscha’s engagement with Los Angeles’s vernacular architecture, urban landscape, and car culture.

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