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Modern Art Department Art and Technology records, 1967-2007, Bulk 1967-1971.
MOD.001.001
MOD.001.001
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Table of contents
Title: Modern Art Department Art and Technology records
Identifier/Call Number: MOD.001.001
Contributing Institution:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research Library
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear feet
6 boxes
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1967-1971
Date (inclusive): 1967-2007
Abstract: The Art and Technology program was initiated at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1967, when curator Maurice
Tuchman proposed the idea of formulating a relationship between contemporary artists and high-tech corporations that would
lead to experiments conjoining art and industry and possibly produce new works of art. The program attracted the participation
of some of the most renowned artists of the period--Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Irwin, to
name just a few--who were paired with "Patron Sponsors" who hosted some of the artists at corporate facilities and in some
cases collaborated on projects. In March 1970, several works resulting from these pairings were shown in the American Pavilion
at Expo '70 (the world's fair in Osaka, Japan) and in an exhibition at LACMA from May 16 to August 29, 1971. This archive
consists of documentation relating to the Art and Technology program, including correspondence between LACMA curators, artists,
and corporate participants, notes and drafts of essays written for a report on the A&T Program by curators Jane Livingston
and Tuchman, transcriptions of interviews and conversations with artists, and drawings, photographs, and negatives of artists'
works.
creator:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Modern Art Department.
The Art and Technology records were initially processed in 2006 by Sarah Sherman, who rehoused the papers, created the series
arrangement, and made a complete inventory. In 2010, with grant funding from the Getty Foundation's special initiative "Pacific
Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980," Suzanne Noruschat wrote the descriptive notes and prepared the finding aid under the
supervision of Jessica Gambling.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment only through the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research
Library. Telephone 323-857-6118 or email library@lacma.org.
Media coverage of the Art and Technology program is available in bound volumes of press clippings in the Balch Research Library
at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: N582 L7 A86 1970 (January-May) N582 L7 A86 1971 (volume 3)
Also available online and in the Balch Research Library is the now out-of-print report on the Art and Technology program:
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mweb/archives/artandtechnology/at_home.asp Tuchman, Maurice. A Report on the Art and Technology
Program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1967-1971. Los Angeles: LACMA, 1971.
Organized in three series:
Series I. Administrative
Series II. Corporate Sponsors and Contributors
Series III. Artists
[Description of item], Modern Art Department Art and Technology Records, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Balch Art Research
Library, MOD.001.001.
The Modern Art Department Art and Technology records, covering 2.5 linear feet, comprise a major portion of the program's
documentation held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. While much of the information contained in these records is included
in the published Report on the Art and Technology Program at LACMA 1967-1971, by curators Maurice Tuchman and Jane Livingston,
a rich range of materials provides insight into the program's planning and execution, and into the experiences of those artists
and companies who participated. These materials include administrative files, correspondence, curatorial notes and drafts
of essays on artists, transcripts of artist interviews, and some sketches and photographs of artworks created by artists-in-residence.
Series I Administrative consists mostly of documents created in preparation for and to publicize the Art and Technology program,
including progress reports noting the arrangements being made between artists and corporations and a brochure announcing the
purpose and goals of the program. Series II Corporate Participants and Contributors encompasses a scant amount of materials
on only one of the thirty-seven companies that sponsored the Art and Technology program, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
which hosted the artist R.B. Kitaj. Also included in this series are letters from Marilyn "Missy" Chandler, wife of Los Angeles
Times' publisher Otis Chandler, who solicited corporate support on behalf of LACMA. Additional information on corporate sponsors
appears sporadically in the artist files comprising Series III. Series III Artists includes files on thirty-one of the seventy-six
artists who either were invited, or submitted proposals, to participate in the Art and Technology program, including John
Chamberlain, Robert Irwin, Rockne Krebs, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson MacLow, Claes Oldenburg, Jules Olitski, Eduardo Paolozzi,
Robert Rauschenberg, Tony Smith, Karlheinz Stockhausen, James Turrell, Victor Vasarely, and Andy Warhol. These files contain
(where noted) correspondence between artists, LACMA curators, and corporate personnel, artist statements and proposals, curatorial
notes and drafts of essays written for A Report on the Art and Technology Program, transcriptions of interviews and conversations
with artists, photographs of artists resident at corporations, and drawings, photographs, and negatives of artists' works.
A file containing a 2007 statement by Channa Horwitz (formerly Channa Davis), the only female artist whose proposal was included
in A Report on the Art and Technology Program, was added to the collection.
The Art and Technology program was organized by the Modern Art Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
This department was renamed the Twentieth-Century Art Department in 1981, and fifteen years later, in 1996, became the Modern
and Contemporary Art Department. In 2005, modern and contemporary art were separated into two departments, reflecting the
disciplinary distinctions now existing between these two historical periods.(1)
The concept for the Art and Technology program was born in the mind of LACMA Curator of Modern Art Maurice Tuchman in 1966,
when he began to contemplate the possibility of forging relationships between contemporary artists and industrial scientists
and engineers. Inspired by the ideas of the early twentieth-century avant-gardes—the Italian Futurists, Russian Constructivists,
and Bauhaus artists —who had sought to create links between art and industry, Tuchman’s goal was to find corporate settings
in which artists could mingle with technical types, establishing fruitful collaborations that might lead participants into
new artistic directions.(2) In November 1967, Tuchman presented his proposal to LACMA’s Board of Directors, who expressed
skepticism about the curator’s far-reaching ambitions, but agreed that Tuchman should attempt to raise funds for his proposed
project. With the help of Marilyn “Missy” Chandler, wife of Los Angeles Times Publisher Otis Chandler, Tuchman eventually
garnered the support of nearly forty corporations, many of whom (e.g. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Wyle Laboratories, Universal
City Studios) were willing to supply funds and materials to sponsor an artist in residence. At a time of social upheaval and
widespread suspicions over corporate interests, a surprisingly wide array of well-known contemporary artists were eager to
accept Tuchman’s invitation to join the Art and Technology program. Andy Warhol, Tony Smith, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein,
and Robert Irwin were but a few of the more than sixty artists who responded enthusiastically to Tuchman’s call, and were
among twenty-three artists who ultimately were placed at a company.
The art works that resulted from the corporation/artist pairings were considered a by-product of the collaborative experience
and artists were under no pressure to produce an exhibitable object.(3) In some cases tangible, exhibit-worthy pieces materialized
and in others they did not. The successes and failures of the residencies and collaborations are documented in the records—in
the correspondence, interviews, notes, and photographs—that provide insight into the working relationships successfully or
unsuccessfully maintained between corporate personnel and individual artists, and in the official Report on the Art and Technology
Program written by Tuchman and his fellow curator Jane Livingston. In 1970, eight Art and Technology works—including Warhol’s
Rain Machine, Oldenburg’s Giant Icebag, and Rockne Krebs’ laser installation—were shown in the American Pavilion at Expo ’70,
the world’s fair held in Osaka, Japan. The following year, from May 16 to August 29, 1971, fifteen works were shown in an
exhibition at LACMA (EX.1399).
Attendance figures and media reports suggest that the exhibitions in both Osaka and Los Angeles were well received by large
and enthusiastic audiences.(4) The program, however, was not without its critics. In the summer of 1971, the Los Angeles Council
of Women Artists denounced the exclusion of women from the program, protesting that not a single female artist had been offered
a residency (although the proposal of Channa Davis (now Channa Horwitz) was included in A Report on the Art and Technology
Program). Nonetheless, despite these valid objections and criticisms, the Art and Technology program has continued to attract
the interest of scholars and researchers, and has been regarded as one of the most significant and groundbreaking undertakings
pursued at LACMA.
(1) The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008 (Los Angeles: Museum Associates/LACMA,
2008), 87. (2) Maurice Tuchman, A Report on the Art and Technology Program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1967-1971
(Los Angeles: LACMA, 1971), 9. (3) Ibid., 12. (4) The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, 142.
Permission to Publish or Reproduce
Contact the Balch Research Library for information on publishing or reproducing materials included in these records. Permission
is granted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as the owner of the physical materials, and does not imply permission from
the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain all necessary permissions from the copyright holder.
Transferred from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Modern Art Department in 2010.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Byars, James Lee
Chamberlain, John, 1927-
Crutchfield, William, 1932-
Dupuy, Jean, 1925-
Eversley, Frederick, 1941-
Fahlstrom, Oyvind, 1928-1976
Harrison, Newton A., 1932-
Horwitz, Channa
Irwin, Robert, 1928-
Kitaj, R.B.
Krebs, Rockne, 1938-
Lee, Wesley Duke, 1931-
Lichenstein, Roy, 1923-1997
Livingston, Jane
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Art and Technology Program.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Mac Low, Jackson
Mefferd, Boyd
Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-
Olitski, Jules, 1922-2007
Paolozzi, Eduardo, 1924-2005
Piene, Otto, 1928-
Raskin, Jeff
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
Reichek, Jesse, 1916-
Saarinen, Eric
Serra, Richard
Smith, Tony, 1912-1980
Stockhausen, Karlheinz, 1928-1997
Tuchman, Maurice
Turrell, James
Vasarely, Victor, 1906-1997
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987
Whitman, Robert, 1935-
Art, Modern--20th century
Artists' statements
Black-and-white negatives
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white slides
Clippings (information artifacts)
Color slides
Contact sheets
Design drawings
Drafts (documents)
Interviews
Letters (correspondence)
Preliminary sketches (sketches)
Proposals