Arrangement
Biographical / Historical Note
Access
Scope and Content of Collection
Processing History
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Publication Rights
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Mizuno Gallery records
Creator:
Celmins, Vija, 1938-
Creator:
Bengston, Billy Al
Creator:
Mizuno Gallery
Creator:
Miller, Henry, 1891-1980
Creator:
Mizuno, Riko
Identifier/Call Number: 2010.M.84
Physical Description:
2.9 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1955-2005 (bulk 1966-1988)
Date (bulk): 1966-1988
Abstract: The Mizuno Gallery occupies an important place in the history of postwar art in Los Angeles as a venue for contemporary art
from 1967 to 1984. The archive includes gallery ephemera, postcards, letters, installation shots and other photographs documenting
gallerist Riko Mizuno's close relationship with the artists she exhibited, and with collectors and other art world personalities.
The most extensively represented artists are Vija Celmins, Billy Al Bengston, and Henry Miller.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Arrangement
Organized in three series: Series I. Gallery ephemera, 1967-1983; Series II. General gallery records, 1967-2005; Series III.
Artists' files, 1955-1988.
Biographical / Historical Note
Riko Mizuno operated the Mizuno Gallery from 1967-1984. The gallery occupies an important place in the history of art in postwar
Los Angeles as a venue for contemporary artists such as Chris Burden, Mike Kelley and Billy Al Bengston. Mizuno was born in
Tokyo in 1932. In the mid 1950s, she arrived in Los Angeles assisted by a family friend who also knew Nelbert Murphy Chouinard,
of the Chouinard Art Institute where Mizuno enrolled as a ceramics student. While there, she met many other student artists,
such as Stephan von Huene and Ed Ruscha. In 1966, encouraged by Guy Williams' wife, Mary, Mizuno took over the space formerly
occupied by the Rolf Nelson Gallery and opened Gallery 669.
The first exhibition at Gallery 669 was of Henry Miller's watercolors. The following year, Eugenia Butler joined Mizuno as
co-director of the gallery, but soon left to found her own gallery. Mizuno then renamed the gallery Mizuno Gallery. During
the ten years Mizuno occupied that particular space, she exhibited historical figures associated with the Ferus Gallery, including
Ken Price, Ed Moses, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, and Billy Al Bengston, and other major artists, such as Vija Celmins, Ay-O,
Jack Goldstein, Alexis Smith, and Doug Wheeler. In addition, Chris Burden's early performance,
Deadman, took place at her gallery in 1972, as did his first solo exhibition (1974). In 1976 Mizuno closed the gallery, and in 1978,
reopened it in Little Tokyo. This was the site of Mike Kelley's first solo exhibition in 1981. Mizuno relocated again in 1983
to 454 N. Robertson Blvd. The gallery closed in 1984. Although Mizuno no longer works out of a public storefront, she continues
to operate as a private dealer.
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Mizuno Gallery records contain correspondence, photographs, and printed ephemera, among other materials that document
the operation of the gallery from its founding in 1967 until 1984. Of approximately 90 exhibitions at the gallery, two-thirds
are represented in some way in this collection. There are also materials from artists whose work was never shown at the gallery.
The collection is rich in materials from Billy Al Bengston, Vija Celmins and Henry Miller. There is original artwork by Billy
Al Bengston, Vija Celmins, Raymond Saunders, Russell Tamblyn and H.C. Westermann.
The ephemera in Series I dates from 1967 to 1983 and includes invitations, postcards and posters from exhibitions held at
Gallery 669 and Mizuno Gallery. The records in Series II date from 1967 to 2005 and include a sales log and guest book as
well as photographs of the gallery. The artist files in Series III date from 1955 to 1988 and include postcards and letters
to Riko Mizuno from the artists, newspaper and journal article clippings, invoices (for works of art), ephemera for exhibitions
not at Mizuno Gallery, correspondence and slides, color and black-and-white photographs, transparencies and photograph negatives
of openings, installations, and artists.
Processing History
In 2011 Teresa Soleau processed the collection and wrote the finding aid under the supervision of Andra Darlington.
Preferred Citation
Mizuno Gallery records, 1955-2005, bulk 1966-1988, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2010.M.84.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2010m84
Acquisition Information
Gift of Riko Mizuno in 2010.
Publication Rights
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Color photographs
Mail art
Black-and-white negatives
Printed ephemera
Clippings (information artifacts)
Artists -- 20th century -- Correspondence
Color slides -- 20th century
Photographs, Original
Art dealers -- United States -- Correspondence
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- Los Angeles
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Mizuno Gallery
Gallery 669