Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Brittin (Charles) Papers
2005.M.11
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Charles Brittin papers
Date (inclusive): 1914-2009 (bulk 1950-1979)
Number: 2005.M.11
Creator/Collector:
Brittin, Charles
Physical Description:
93 Linear Feet
(136 boxes, 9 flatfile folders, 1 roll)
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 papers of photographer Charles
Brittin contain photographs, negatives, slides, and transparencies documenting the Los
Angeles art scene and social and political movements that occurred during the 1950s-1970s.
Accompanying the photographs are correspondence, personal writings, printed ephemera,
posters, maquettes, clippings, and publications. The archive also includes works of art by
Brittin and other artists such as Bob Alexander, Wallace Berman, and George
Herms.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials
described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this
collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language: Collection material is in English.
Biographical / Historical Note
American photographer and artist Charles Brittin came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s
through his association with Los Angeles artists Wallace Berman and George Herms. Born in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Brittin relocated with his mother to the Fairfax district of Los Angeles
in 1944, following the death of his father. After studying film and photography at UCLA, he
settled in Venice, California, and began capturing images of the rapidly changing landscape.
Employed variously as a tour guide at ABC, a darkroom assistant, and a mail carrier, Brittin
also managed to capture images of the entertainment world, such as Orson Welles'
transformation of a Venice neighborhood into a set for his movie
A
Touch of Evil
.
After meeting Berman, Brittin began photographing him and his circle of underground
artists, actors, writers, and musicians. During this period, Brittin also began creating
works of art himself, and helped produce three of the nine issues of Berman's now rare
periodical,
Semina. Brittin's skill at photographing the
artistic moment continued to develop as he captured images of events and no longer extant
artistic locations in Los Angeles, such as the ephemeral
Artists'
Tower of Protest
(also known as the
Peace Tower)
and the innovative Ferus Gallery co-founded by Berman, Edward Kienholz, and Walter Hopps. It
was Brittin who photographed the now-infamous police raid at Ferus Gallery in 1957.
Throughout his career, Brittin was a political activist. During the early 1960s and 1970s,
he became involved in the civil rights movement and photographed the social protests that
characterized the time. He documented his experiences canvassing neighborhoods with the
equal rights group Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). His commitment to political activism
and civil rights issues continued to grow as he photographed feminist and labor
demonstrations as well as numerous protests against the Vietnam War. Brittin documented many
Los Angeles area clashes between police and protesters and eventually became involved with
the Black Panther Party. The struggles of this movement are among the most dramatic subjects
of his photographic art.
Brittin continued with both artistic and sociopolitical photography well into the 1970s.
His work has been shown in several solo exhibitions and nearly twenty group exhibitions. His
images have also been used in numerous books on the dissident 1960s and the Beat scene in
Los Angeles. Charles Brittin died of pneumonia in January 2011.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Charles Brittin photographs and papers, 1914-2009 (bulk 1950-1979), The Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2005.M.11
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2005m11
Acquired in 2005.
Sheila Prospero initially rehoused and processed the archive in 2005 with a preliminary
inventory list. In 2010, she further processed the materials and created a finding aid under
the supervision of Andra Darlington.
In 2012, additional materials were received from Brittin's estate and integrated into the
archive by Sheila Prospero. These materials can be found in box 83-134* and flatfile folder
8**-9**.
Modern Art in Los Angeles Recordings (2003-2011), Getty Research Institute. The Getty
Research Institute (IA40018).
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifaia40018
Forty-five monographs and 54 serials were transferred to the library. These publications
may be found by searching the
Library Catalog for the Charles Brittin Collection.
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive comprises 92 linear feet of visual and printed material featuring much of
Brittin's artistically and historically important photographic work. Included are vintage
and contemporary black-and-white prints, negatives, slides, contact sheets, and modern
prints documenting both the Los Angeles art scene and social and political movements from
the 1950s to the 1970s.
The artist files in Series I form the bulk of the archive and contain photographs of
underground Los Angeles artists, namely Wallace Berman and his Ferus Gallery coterie,
including Bob Alexander, George Herms, Walter Hopps, Artie Richer, John Altoon, Zack and
Beverly Walsh, John Reed, and Dean Stockwell. The series also includes 1950s- and 1960s-era
images of performance artists, poets and photographers such as Instant Theater's Rachel
Rosenthal, poets Kenneth Patchen and Michael McClure, and photographer Edmund Teske, as well
as images of musicians, musical venues, and performances in Los Angeles. In addition to
photographs, the series contains various mail art, printed ephemera, collage, and assemblage
work created by many of these artists, including Brittin himself. Related papers,
publications and posters also accompany some of the files.
Also in this series are museum and gallery files on the Los Angeles art scene, particularly
Brittin's collection of photographs and papers of the Ferus and Semina galleries. Included
in these files are photographs of art and exhibitions, including Berman's first show as well
as casual shots of artists at the Ferus alley. (For photographs of Wallace Berman's arrest
at Ferus Gallery and subsequent trial, see Berman files in Series I.A.) The series also
contains a variety of exhibition ephemera and posters for artists who exhibited at Ferus
Gallery, such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Josef Albers.
Berman's move to Larkspur, California as result of his arrest at the Ferus Gallery led to
the creation of the Semina Gallery, where Brittin had his first exhibition of photographic
works. Series I contains Brittin's documentation of this one-day exhibition and also
includes images of the Berman family home as well as other papers related to Berman's
Semina issues. Other personal works by Brittin featured
prominently in Series I are his photographs of sites in old Los Angeles and Venice that are
no longer extant.
Brittin's documentation of the civil rights movement and other political demonstrations and
events are grouped into five sections in Series II: civil rights, feminism, labor protests,
Vietnam War protests, and politics. A large portion of civil rights photographs are of CORE
marches addressing topics such as police brutality, education, housing, and job
discrimination. Demonstrations by other groups including the Non-Violent Action Committee
(N-VAC) and United Civil Rights Council (UCRC) are also included in this section. A small
portion of Series II comprises photos, papers and publications on feminist and Chicano and
labor demonstrations.
A significant amount of anti-war material is included in Series II. From 1965 to 1975,
Brittin captured numerous protest demonstrations against the Vietnam War, namely the 1967
protests at Century City and The
Artists' Tower of Protest
project -- a three-month art installation which served as a platform for artists' opposition
to the war (see Series I.A.). Brittin also documented various political protests and events
organized by groups such as the Black Panther Party, Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS), and the Peace and Freedom Party (PFP). Accompanying both the anti-war and political
photographs are various related publications, posters, ephemera, correspondence, clippings,
and other papers. Aside from his photographic works, Brittin also designed graphics that
were used as posters, flyers or invitations for social and political demonstrations.
Brittin's interest in revolutionary movements is further shown by the archive's collection
of vintage and reprinted political posters that are also in Series II. Accompanying these
posters are various communist and socialist publications and ephemera as well as papers on
political film centers such as the Los Angeles Newsreel.
More of Brittin's counterculture material can be found in Series III Collections. Brittin's
erotica collection forms the bulk of the series and includes papers, publications, and
commercial photographs as well as Brittin's own work. Also featured is a small group of
advertisements and pamphlets on health, drugs, and spiritual movements. Among other
collections in this series are Brittin's theater/film papers, film stills, and ephemera,
including his membership in the Hollywood Film Society and materials on Orson Welles.
Series IV contains images of Brittin's personal life from the 1950s to his later years. The
series contains photographs of family and friends including many portraits of women, travels
with his wife Barbara, and scenes of everyday life. Included are both black-and-white and
color prints, Polaroid prints, contact sheets, negatives, and slides.
Lastly, Series V comprises a small number of miscellaneous and unidentified items found in
the archive. Included are papers such as exhibition ephemera and assorted clippings,
artworks by unidentified artists, posters, and publications. Another portion of the series
features Brittin's personal belongings such as photography accessories, music CDs, a
bracelet, and pen nibs.
In 2012, additional materials were received from Brittin's estate and integrated into the
archive. These materials can be found in box 83-134* and flatfile folder 8**-9**.
Arranged in five series:
Series I. Los Angeles art scene, circa 1939-2009 (bulk 1950-1979);
Series II. Political
movements and protests, 1926-2004 (bulk 1960-1979);
Series III. Collections,
1937-2005 (bulk 1960s), undated;
Series IV. Personal photographs, 1950s-2000s;
Series V. Miscellaneous
items, 1914, 1943-2005, undated, undated.
Hopps, Walter
Altoon, John, 1925-1969
Herms, George, 1935-
Alexander, Bob
Berman, Wallace, 1926-1976
Black Panther Party
Congress of Racial Equality
Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles,
Calif.)
Semina Art Gallery
Artists -- California -- Los Angeles
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- California
Social movements -- California -- History -- 20th century
Art, American -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Civil rights demonstrations -- United States -- History -- 20th
century
Civil rights demonstrations -- California -- History -- 20th
century
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Pictorial
works
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Pictorial
works
Drawings (visual works) -- 20th century
Collages (visual works) -- 20th century
Black-and-white negatives -- 20th century
Posters -- 20th century
Photographic prints -- 20th century
Photographs, Original
Photographic prints -- California -- 20th century
Mail art -- 20th century
Erotica -- 20th century
Ephemera -- 20th century
Chromogenic color prints -- 20th century
Color negatives -- 20th century
Contact sheets -- 20th century
Diffusion transfer prints -- 20th
century
Dye diffusion transfer prints -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th
century
Gelatin silver prints -- 20th century
Berman, Wallace,
1926-1976
Herms, George,
1935-
Brittin, Charles
Alexander, Bob