Rebels in Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s

Innovative museum director Walter Hopps began his ascent to art world acclaim 50 years ago, when he championed such artists as Ed Ruscha, ,Judy Chicago, and Ed Kienholz. Back then, Los Angeles had no modern art museum and few galleries. Today, the city has four contemporary art museums and hundreds of galleries. The scene in between is brilliantly illuminated by art critic Drohojowska-Philp (Full Bloom: The Art and Life of Georgia O'Keeffe). Hopps kick-started it all in 1963 by staging Andy Warhol's show of 32 soup can paintings ("turning the gallery into a grocery store of sorts") and mounting a hugely influential Marcel Duchamp exhibition, all work new to younger L.A. artists and collectors. Employing a free associative writing style, Drohojowska-Philp skillfully interlinks the art movement with news events and cultural milestones in film, fashion, novels, theater, and music, from Frank Gehry's architecture to the Watts riots. Having interviewed many of the participants, she introduces David Hockney and others with in-depth profiles and colorful anecdotes. Recreating an electric era when the art world made an axis shift, Drohojowska-Philp successfully paints a Day-Glo image of those days when anything seemed possible. B&w illus. (June)