Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982
"As part of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 regional initiative, Backyard Oasis examines swimming pools in photographs from 1945 to 1982 as visual analogs of the ideals and expectations associated with Southern California. These images of individual water-based environs in the arid landscape are an integral part of the region’s identity, a microcosm of the hopes and disillusionments of the country’s post-World War II ethos. As a private setting, the backyard pool became a stage for sub-culture rituals and clandestine desires. As a medium, photography became the primary vehicle for embodying the polar emotions of consumer optimism and Cold War fears. Crossing the boundaries of popular and high culture, commercial merchandising, journalistic reporting, and vernacular memorabilia, photography conveyed the developing ideologies of the period. As such, its visual language forms a network of discursive topics that open onto each other, offering a rich study of physical and cultural geography. For the first time, this exhibition, its catalogue, and attendant programs trace the integrated histories of photography and the iconography of the swimming pool, bringing new light to aspects of this complex interaction." - via palm springs museum psmuseum.org
Palm Springs Art Museum to Offer Photography Exhibition Depicting Southern California Swimming Pool Photography
Exhibition features compelling images from range of important photographers including Slim Aarons, David Hockney, Herb Ritts, Edward Ruscha, and Julius Shulman
Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982 January 21-May 27, 2012
Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982 is organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum. The exhibition and catalogue are funded through a lead grant from The Getty Foundation, with additional support provided by David Knaus, the James Irvine Foundation, the Architecture and Design Council, the Photography Collection Council, and Yvonne and Steve Maloney.
About the Palm Springs Art Museum
The Palm Springs Art Museum's main facility is located in downtown Palm Springs in a 150,000 square foot architecturally-significant building and features compelling exhibitions and a robust permanent collection of modern, contemporary, Western and Native American, Mesoamerican and glass art in 28 spacious galleries and in its two outdoor sculpture gardens. The museum will open a new facility in Palm Desert in Spring, 2012 and an architecture and design center in Palm Springs in Spring, 2103. For more information, call 760-322.4800 or visit www.psmuseum.org.
I'd like to thank one of my readers (I can't believe people read my ramblings) for sending me a link with the info for this exhibit.
