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Lubliner (Malcolm) Photographs of the Los Angeles Art
Scene
2012.R.21
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Title: Malcolm Lubliner Photographs of the Los Angeles Art Scene
Date (inclusive): 1967-1997, undated (bulk 1968-1971)
Number: 2012.R.21
Creator/Collector:
Lubliner, Malcolm
Physical Description:
21.75 Linear Feet
(20 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The collection of photographs of the
Los Angeles art scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s by photographer Malcolm Lubliner
records the activities of artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein,
Robert Rauschenberg, Josef Albers, John Altoon, Frank Stella, and Sam Francis. Most of the
photographs were commissioned by Gemini G.E.L., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's
Art and Technology (A & T) Program. Included in the collection are approximately 460
sleeves of negatives, 600 corresponding contact prints, and 300 photographic prints,
including duplicates.
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Language: Collection material is in English.
Malcolm Lubliner was born in New York in 1933. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in
1939. After military service and a year at Los Angeles City College, he studied painting and
drawing at Otis Art Institute, where he received an MFA degree in 1962. After graduating
from Otis, he taught at various private and public institutions before teaching graduate
courses in painting and drawing at California State University, Long Beach in 1967. He left
in 1968 to become a full-time photographer.
Lubliner was then hired as a contract photographer for Gemini G.E.L. (Graphic Editions
Limited), a publishing workshop in Los Angeles. He would also become the official
photographer for Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA) Art and Technology Program
(1967-1971), which paired a select group of artists with technology companies in Southern
California. Photographing artists such as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg,
Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Irwin, Richard Serra, Frank Stella, John Altoon, and Sam Francis
among others, Lubliner documented many of the behind-the-scenes production activities at
Gemini and at the artists' own studios. In addition, he captured various artistic and social
events of the day, which were frequented by both artists and cultural notables alike, such
as Maurice Tuchman, Stanley Grinstein, Betty Asher, and Leo Castelli. Lubliner's work from
this period was included, along with those of Dennis Hopper, Jerry McMillan, Edmund Teske,
and others, in the 1996 exhibition and accompanying catalogue,
Photographing the L.A. Art Scene: 1955-1975.
Lubliner moved to northern California in 1982 where he has continued his career as a
photographer. He is currently represented by Craig Krull Gallery.
Sources consulted:
CityVisions - Malcolm Lubliner Photography, Malcolm Lubliner - Photography & Art Since
1965. www.cityvisions.com.
Lubliner, Malcom, e-mail mesage to authors, April 290, 2016.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Malcolm Lubliner photographs of the Los Angeles art scene, 1967-1997, bulk 1968-1971, The
Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2012.R.21.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2012r21
Acquired in 2012.
Processed by B. Karenina Karyadi under the supervision of Beth Ann Guynn in 2014.
Photographs of Robert Irwin, 1969, Special Collections accession number 960028 is comprised
of Lubliner images. Experiments in Art and Technology Los Angeles records, 1969-1975,
Special Collections accession number 2003.M.12; and Experiments in Art and Technology
records, 1966-1993, Special Collections accession no. 940003 both contain files related to
LACMA's Art and Technology program and the Spherical Mirror Dome project.
Additional Malcolm Lubliner materials are available in the Kenneth Tyler Printmaking
Collection, at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) (Kenneth Tyler Printmaking
Collection, http://nga.gov.au/InternationalPrints/Tyler/Default.cfm, viewed on September 9,
2014). Some of the images in the present collection are included and described in more
detail in the Tyler Collection, descriptions of which were written by NGA curators in
collaboration with Tyler himself.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection of photographs of the Los Angeles art scene in the late 1960s and early
1970s by photographer Malcolm Lubliner records the activities of artists such as Claes
Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Josef Albers, John Altoon,
Frank Stella, and Sam Francis. The collection contains approximately 460 negative and slide
sleeves, 600 corresponding contact prints, and 300 gelatin silver prints (including
duplicates), which were largely produced during Lubliner's time as the contract photographer
for Gemini G.E.L. and LACMA's Art and Technology Program. Also included is a small amount of
other material, including documents pertaining to certain shoots.
Series I consists of materials pertaining to Lubliner's documentation of various artists
and their production activities, many of which were part of his commissions from Gemini
G.E.L. and LACMA's Art and Technology Program. Included are behind-the-scenes photographs
and records of projects such as Claes Oldenburg's
Profile
Airflow
and
Giant Ice Bag; Jasper Johns's
Numerals lead reliefs and
No
lithographs; Robert Rauschenberg's lithographs for
Stoned Moon
Series
and
Cardbird Series; and Edward Kienholz's
Sawdy sculpture. In many cases, the staff members and
facilities of Gemini are heavily featured, including Kenneth Tyler and Stanley Grinstein. In
addition, the series also features several events and solo exhibitions that were organized
under the individual artist's names, including James Lee Byars's
Mile
Long Hat
performance at Dwan Gallery; the First National Symposium on Habitability
at Robert Irwin's studio; and Edward Kienholz's
Barter Show
at the Eugenia Butler Gallery.
Series II consists of materials pertaining to Lubliner's documentation of different social
and cultural events within the Los Angeles art world. Included are photographs of social
gatherings at the homes of Stanley Grinstein, Betty Asher, and Maurice Tuchman; opening
night of the
Serial Imagery exhibition at Pasadena Art
Museum; concerts and performances by Yvonne Rainer and Steve Paxton; and a possible working
model from Experiments in Art and Technology's
Spherical Mirror
Dome
project.
Most of Lubliner's negatives and contact prints are organized by individual shoots and were
originally contained in separate envelopes. The envelopes bore typewritten descriptions
pertaining to the shoot, mainly a record number, the artist(s) involved, the title of the
project or event, location, and year. Titles and dates of the files in this collection were
largely derived from them, unless otherwise noted. A number of envelopes contained
additional information, which is included in the file-level notes as appropriate.
Additionally, most of Lubliner's negative sleeves and contact prints are numbered according
to the format: [record no.] - [negative sleeve or contact print no.]. Some renumbering done
by Lubliner also occurred (usually on verso of contact prints or at the top of negative
sleeves), which, in most cases, explains the existence of more than one record number
(included as "additional record numbers" in the file-level notes), and in some cases,
discrepencies in numbering between the contact prints, negatives, and/or prints. Specific
instances where this occured are noted in the file-level notes.
Unless otherwise noted, contact prints and prints are gelatin silver prints. Most of the 8
x 10 inch gelatin silver prints are keyed on the verso to their corresponding images
following this format: [record no.] - [contact print or negative sleeve no.] / [frame no.] (
[copy no.] ). This format, or some variation of it, was followed when transcribing
annotations or referring to specific images in the file-level scope notes throughout this
finding aid. Annotations on the verso of some 11 x 14 inch prints date them as having been
printed between 1968 and 1972, and are noted below. In several cases, this date range
conflicts with the recorded date of when the original images were supposedly photographed
(usually the year on their corresponding negatives or contact prints). A number of the 11 x
14 inch prints that were printed early on by Lubliner are also numbered as editioned
prints.
Most contact prints are wet-stamped or labeled on the verso with Lubliner's studio contact
information and copyright. Many of the 11 x 14 inch prints are also wet-stamped and signed
on the verso.
The collection is comprised of two series:
Series I. Artists, 1967-1992, undated (bulk 1968-1971);
Series II. Events, 1968-1997 (bulk
1968-1971).
Altoon, John
Grinstein, Stanley
Stella, Frank
Albers, Josef
Goode, Joe
Tuchman, Maurice
Asher, Betty
Tyler, Kenneth E.
Serra, Richard
Kienholz, Edward, 1927-1994
Irwin, Robert, 1928-
Lichtenstein, Roy
Oldenburg, Claes
Rauschenberg, Robert
Rainer, Yvonne
Johns, Jasper
Paxton, Steve
Francis, Sam
Gemini G.E.L. (Firm)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Art and technology
Art, American -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Performance art -- California -- Los Angeles
Gelatin silver prints -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Black-and-white negatives -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Contact prints -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Lubliner, Malcolm