As part of the citywide Pacific Standard Time exposition of California mid-20th Century art and design, LACMA's Resnick Pavilion is currently showcasing "California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way," an interesting cross-section of the state's influential modern design from that era. Details:
This exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design. With more than 300 objects—furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and textiles, and industrial and graphic design—the exhibition examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire country. Organized into four thematic areas, the exhibition aims to elucidate the 1951 quote from émigré Greta Magnusson Grossman that is incorporated into the exhibition’s title: California design “is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions…It has developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way."
We visited the exhibit on the same day we checked out the Broad Contemporary Art Museum and the "Metropolis II" exhibit. Some pics from "California Design":
Vintage Airstream streamline trailer
Studebaker's 1962 sports car Avanti
Album covers
Ceiling light from Barton's Bonbonniere candy shop in San Francisco, circa 1952. (Victor Gruen, designer)
Modern furniture
Mattel and Barbie are a sponsor of the exhibit, hence the mid-century Barbie dolls on display
Barbie's mid-century dream house, circa 1962
Wartime poster
Table from the sportswear department at Bullock's Wilshire, designed by Jock D. Peters
Screen (with a cool atomic, space age feel), cira 1952, designed by Greta Magnusson Grossman.
"Rib chair," designed by Arthur Espenet Carpenter in 1968.
