Ferus Gallery
Encyclopedia
The Ferus Gallery was a contemporary art gallery operating from 1957-1966. In 1957 it was located at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles
, California
. In 1958 it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega Boulevard where it remained until its closing in 1966.
Under the directorship of Irving Blum from 1958, the gallery exhibited both the West Coast
and New York
art of the period. It was the first gallery on the West Coast to devote a solo show to Andy Warhol
.
The gallery was founded in 1957 by the curator Walter Hopps
, the artist Edward Kienholz
, and the poet Bob Alexander. In 1958 Kienholz left to concentrate on producing art, and his stake in the gallery was replaced by Irving Blum. Also at this time, Sayde Moss, a wealthy widow, became a silent partner and with her support the gallery moved across the street to 723 N. La Cienega Boulevard. Hopps left in 1962 to become curator and, later, director of the Pasadena Art Museum.
Up until the autumn of 1958 the gallery held twenty shows, but had made hardly any sales. Blum persuaded Hopps to reduce the number of represented artists to fourteen (seven from San Francisco and seven from Los Angeles) and transformed the financial health of the gallery.
From 1965, the offices of the art magazine Artforum
were situated above the gallery, before moving to New York City
in 1967.
, Craig Kauffman, Richard Diebenkorn
, John Altoon
and Clyfford Still
.
In 1957 the gallery was temporarily closed after LAPD
officers arrested and charged Wallace Berman
with obscenity over work in his exhibition. It was his first and last solo show.
In 1962 Andy Warhol: Campbell's Soup Cans was Andy Warhol
's first solo pop art
exhibition and the first exhibition of the Soup Cans
. Five of the canvases sold for $100 each, but Blum bought them back to keep the set intact.
Los Angeles artists who had their first solo shows at the gallery included: Wallace Berman
(1957), Billy Al Bengston
(1958), Ed Moses
(1958), Robert Irwin
(1959), John Mason
(1959), Kenneth Price
(1960), Llyn Foulkes
(1962), Larry Bell
(1962) and Ed Ruscha (1963).
In 2007, "The Cool School" was released, a documentary film about the Ferus Gallery and its eccentric artists.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In 1958 it was relocated across the street to 723 North La Cienega Boulevard where it remained until its closing in 1966.
Under the directorship of Irving Blum from 1958, the gallery exhibited both the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
art of the period. It was the first gallery on the West Coast to devote a solo show to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
.
The gallery was founded in 1957 by the curator Walter Hopps
Walter Hopps
Walter Hopps was an American museum director and curator of contemporary art. His obituary in the Washington Post described him as a "sort of a gonzo museum director -- elusive, unpredictable, outlandish in his range, jagged in his vision, heedless of rules."Hopps was born in Eagle Rock, Los...
, the artist Edward Kienholz
Edward Kienholz
Edward Kienholz was an American installation artist whose work was highly critical of aspects of modern life. From 1972 onwards, he assembled much of his artwork in close collaboration with his artistic partner and wife, Nancy Reddin Kienholz...
, and the poet Bob Alexander. In 1958 Kienholz left to concentrate on producing art, and his stake in the gallery was replaced by Irving Blum. Also at this time, Sayde Moss, a wealthy widow, became a silent partner and with her support the gallery moved across the street to 723 N. La Cienega Boulevard. Hopps left in 1962 to become curator and, later, director of the Pasadena Art Museum.
Up until the autumn of 1958 the gallery held twenty shows, but had made hardly any sales. Blum persuaded Hopps to reduce the number of represented artists to fourteen (seven from San Francisco and seven from Los Angeles) and transformed the financial health of the gallery.
From 1965, the offices of the art magazine Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
were situated above the gallery, before moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1967.
Notable exhibitions
The inaugural exhibition at the Ferus Gallery was Objects on the New Landscape Demanding of the Eye (March 15 - April 11, 1957), a group show including the work of Frank Lobdell, Jay DeFeoJay DeFeo
Jay DeFeo was a visual artist associated with the Beat generation who worked c.1950-1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area....
, Craig Kauffman, Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn was a well-known 20th century American painter. His early work is associated with Abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His later work were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim.-Biography:Richard Clifford Diebenkorn Jr...
, John Altoon
John Altoon
John Altoon , an American artist, was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant Armenian parents. From 1947–1949 he attended the Otis Art Institute, from 1947 to 1950 he also attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and in 1950 the Chouinard Art Institute. Altoon was a prominent...
and Clyfford Still
Clyfford Still
Clyfford Still was an American painter, and one of the leading figures of Abstract Expressionism.-Biography:...
.
In 1957 the gallery was temporarily closed after LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
officers arrested and charged Wallace Berman
Wallace Berman
Wallace Berman was an American visual and assemblage artist. He has been called the "father" of assemblage art and a "crucial figure in the history of postwar California art".-Personal life and education:...
with obscenity over work in his exhibition. It was his first and last solo show.
In 1962 Andy Warhol: Campbell's Soup Cans was Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's first solo pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
exhibition and the first exhibition of the Soup Cans
Campbell's Soup Cans
Campbell's Soup Cans, which is sometimes referred to as 32 Campbell's Soup Cans, is a work of art produced in 1962 by Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuring in height × in width and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each of the canned soup...
. Five of the canvases sold for $100 each, but Blum bought them back to keep the set intact.
Los Angeles artists who had their first solo shows at the gallery included: Wallace Berman
Wallace Berman
Wallace Berman was an American visual and assemblage artist. He has been called the "father" of assemblage art and a "crucial figure in the history of postwar California art".-Personal life and education:...
(1957), Billy Al Bengston
Billy Al Bengston
Billy Al Bengston is an American artist and sculptor who lives and works in Venice, California. He was educated at Los Angeles City College Los Angeles, CA , California College of Arts & Crafts Oakland, CA , and the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA .After seeing the work of Jasper Johns at the...
(1958), Ed Moses
Ed Moses (artist)
Ed Moses is an American artist based in the Los Angeles area.Born near Long Beach and educated in the mid-1950s at UCLA, Moses was one of the abstract artists with a one-man show at the legendary Los Angeles Ferus Gallery , in the cadre of fellow artists Wallace Berman, Billy Al Bengston, Robert...
(1958), Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin (artist)
Robert Irwin is an American Installation artist. He lives and works in San Diego, California.-Beginnings:Robert Irwin was born in 1928 in Long Beach, California to Robert Irwin and Goldie Anderberg Irwin...
(1959), John Mason
John Mason (artist)
John Mason is a contemporary American artist. From very early on, Mason’s work focused on exploring the physical properties of clay and its “extreme plasticity.” Mason is recognized for his focus and steady investigation of mathematical concepts relating to rotation, symmetry, and modules as well...
(1959), Kenneth Price
Kenneth Price
Kenneth Price is an American ceramic artist and printmaker who was born in Los Angeles, California in 1935. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, before receiving his BFA degree from the University of Southern California in 1956...
(1960), Llyn Foulkes
Llyn Foulkes
Llyn Foulkes is an American artist living and working in Los Angeles.As a student at Chouinard Art Institute , Foulkes began exhibiting with the Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles in 1959. He held his first one-man exhibition at Ferus in 1961. Other early solo exhibitions included the Pasadena Art Museum ...
(1962), Larry Bell
Larry Bell (artist)
Larry Bell is a contemporary American artist and sculptor. He lives and works in Taos, New Mexico, and maintains a studio in Venice, California. From 1957 to 1959 he studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles as a student of Robert Irwin, Richards Ruben, Robert Chuey, and Emerson Woelfer...
(1962) and Ed Ruscha (1963).
In 2007, "The Cool School" was released, a documentary film about the Ferus Gallery and its eccentric artists.
External links
- THE COOL SCHOOL site for Independent LensIndependent LensAiring weekly on PBS through ITVS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama and documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Howard, Maggie...
on PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... - Michael Wilson's Ferus Gallery fansite
- KCET Departures Venice Art Historian Hunter Drohojowska-Phili discusses the Ferus group