The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County presents Artistic Evolution: Southern California Artists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1945-1963, an exhibition on view n View October 2, 2011 – January 15, 2012.
The Exposition Park museum historically played a crucial role in nurturing the dynamism and richness of the Los Angeles art scene through exhibitions and the coveted annual purchase prize. In the mid 1960s, art exhibitions were moved from the Museum to the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard, and NHM focused its mission on natural history.
Artistic Evolution is part of Pacific Standard Time, an unprecedented collaboration, initiated by the Getty, that brings together more than sixty cultural institutions from across Southern California for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene.
The works on view in Artistic Evolution were shown in the context of the Museum’s “Annual Exhibition, Artists of Los Angeles and Vicinity” series and related contemporary exhibitions from 1940-1961. In addition to these annual showcases of contemporary local art, the Exposition Park site boasted world-class exhibitions of Renaissance and Baroque masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt, Impressionist and Post- Impressionist shows featuring Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir; and cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions originated by leading New York institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was a place for artists of all generations and inclinations to see and learn and respond to their predecessors, peers, teachers and students.
NHM is located at 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, near downtown. It is open daily from 9:30 am to 5 pm. The Museum was the first dedicated museum building in Los Angeles, opening its doors in 1913. It has amassed one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history — with more than 35 million objects, some as old as 4.5 billion years. The Natural History Family of Museums includes the NHM, the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (Hancock Park/Mid-Wilshire), and the William S. Hart Park and Museum (Newhall, California).
