California Design is part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, a six-month initiative that brings together some 60 institutions across Southern California in a collaborative reassessment of nearly a half century of cultural production. The show is a broadminded survey of thirty-five years worth of design, covering fashion, textiles and ceramics as well as architecture, graphic and industrial design. LACMA curators Wendy Kaplan and Bobbye Tigerman filled the space with a broad range of some 350 objects, including a R.M Schindler dresser, a Julius Shulman print, a lobster-print bikini by Catalina Sportswear, Architectural Pottery's garden sculpture.
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_5663_05_web_EX2412-VW0082.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
It's unfortunate that the LACMA curators dropped the last line of Magnusson Grossman's remarks on California design from the introductory wall text: "It expresses our habits and our tastes." Because the show is at it's best when it expresses these quirks: the kind of "Fruitbowl Moderism" critic Karrie Jacobs wrote about in the first issue of Dwell, way back in 2000, before it codified into a prescribed aesthetic on the Tumblr site Unhappy Hipsters. This legacy begins with John Entenza's Art and Architecture. Copies of the magazine pepper the show and a rouges' gallery—framed images of notable buildings by notable photographers—represents those characters that filled its pages: Shulman, Koenig, Eichler, Eckbo, Soriano.
![Top and above: From <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Photos © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. Top and above: From <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Photos © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_6069_03_web_EX2412-VW0041.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
It's unfortunate that the LACMA curators dropped the last line of Magnusson Grossman's remarks on California design from the wall text: 'It expresses our habits and our tastes.'
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The entire living room of the Eames House has been reconstructed for the exhibition. © Eames Office LLC, photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The entire living room of the Eames House has been reconstructed for the exhibition. © Eames Office LLC, photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_1538_07_web_EX2412-VW0121.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_2021_08_web_EX2412-VW0151.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Mimi Zeiger
California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way"
On view until 03 June 2012
LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_8143_09_web_EX2412-VW0161.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_1819_10_web_EX2412-VW0181.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![<i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA. <i>California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way,"</i> Los Angeles County Museum of Art, installation view. Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.](/content/dam/domusweb/en/design/2011/11/29/california-design-1930-1965/big_368012_2762_06_web_EX2412-VW0091.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)