Hammer Museum

This week’s #NotOnView selection celebrates the artist Corita Kent, who was born on November 20, 1918. 

Known for her vibrant, often politically charged screenprints, Corita encouraged her viewers to engage with the world around them in dynamic new ways. In Today from 1970, Corita conveys to her viewers the inspirational phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Using the colors of the American flag, Corita offered a message of hope to the American people during a period of political turmoil at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s—a message that rings true to this day. 

Corita Kent, Today, 1970. Screenprint. Sheet: 23 x 23 in. (58.4 x 58.4 cm). Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum.

One of the most influential yet under recognized artists of his generation, Llyn Foulkes makes work that stands out for its raw, immediate, and unfiltered qualities. His extraordinarily diverse body of work—including impeccably painted landscapes, mixed-media constructions, deeply disturbing portraits, and narrative tableaux—resists categorization and defies expectations, distinguishing Foulkes as a truly singular artist. 

This week’s #NotOnView selection is Foulkes’s Dalí and Me, inspired by Salvador Dalí, who was born 112 years ago this week.

Llyn Foulkes, Dalí and Me, 2006. Mixed media. 33 x 26 in. (83.8 x 66 cm). Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Purchase.

In honor of Cy Twombly’s birthday today, this week’s #NotOnView selection is one of the artist’s sketches from our collection. However, you can see some of Twombly’s art currently on view in our Black Mountain College exhibition.

Cy Twombly, Sketches, 1967 (published 1975). Etching on handmade paper. 12 1/4 x 8 7/8 in. (31.1 x 22.5 cm). Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum.

The art of Gustave Moreau—born on this day in 1826—stands apart from that of his realist and impressionist contemporaries in nineteenth-century France, particularly in the mystical and enigmatic quality of his paintings of biblical and mythological subjects. He is considered an important precursor to the symbolist and surrealist movements, and his students included Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault.

Now on view: http://bit.ly/1VxifK8

“If I throw myself fully into my work again, very good, but I shall always be cracked.” –Vincent Van Gogh, born on this day in 1853

Van Gogh occupied two rooms at the asylum at Saint-Rémy, one of which he turned into a studio. The building, grounds, and views from his rooms were frequent subjects during his year in residence, making the final year of the artist’s life also one of his most productive. This work in our collection is currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago for its Van Gogh’s Bedrooms exhibition: http://bit.ly/1WYbIqN Vincent van Gogh, Hospital at Saint-Rémy, 1889. Oil on canvas. 36 5/16 x 28 7/8 in. (92.2 x 73.4 cm). The Armand Hammer Collection, Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

"Nothing is ever the same as they said it was." –Diane Arbus, born on this day in 1923. 

This week’s #NotOnView selection highlights another woman artist featured in our collection. We are celebrating many more on our Pinterest page as part of Women’s History Month.

Diane Arbus, Lady at a masked ball with two roses on her dress, N.Y., 1967, 1979. Halftone photogravure. 9 3/4 x 10 in. (24.8 x 25.4 cm). Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA. Gift of Robert Heinecken.

Artist Ed Ruscha turns 78 years old this week. In honor of his birthday and his recent announcement of a major gift to the Tate, this week’s #NotOnView selection is a lithograph from 1969.

Ed Ruscha, Rodeo, January 22-24, 1969. Color lithograph on Rives BFK paper.  Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of the UCLA Art Council.

“I paint things as they are. I don't comment. I record.” This week’s #NotOnView selection is in honor of Toulouse-Lautrec’s birthday tomorrow.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Program for Théâtre Libre's production of L'Argent (Money) by Emile Fabre, May 5, 1895. Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Given anonymously.

Auguste Rodin, born on this day in 1840

Walker Evans, born on this day in 1903

Roy Lichtenstein, born on this day in 1923

Robert Rauschenberg, born on this day in 1925

“A letter always suggests a word, and a word always suggests a book. There are words that are for every day use and there are words reserved for the more special occasions, for poetry … To make a new alphabet of the discarded props of a conversation can lead only to fresh discoveries in language.” –Man Ray, born on this day in 1890

Man Ray, Alphabet pour Adultes, 1970. Book. 15 1/2 x 12 x 1 3/4 in. (39.4 x 30.5 x 4.4 cm). Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of Stuart and Joan Levin.

For this week’s #NotOnView selection, a piece of Alexander Calder’s workshop in honor of his birthday this past weekend.

Alexander Calder, A Piece of My Workshop, n.d. 10 x 15 1/4 in. (25.4 x 38.7 cm). Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum.

"Art is what you can get away with." –Andy Warhol, born on this day in 1928.

Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup II (Cheddar Cheese), 1969. 35 x 23 in. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." 

In honor of Edgar Degas’s birthday yesterday, this week’s #NotOnView selection is an etching of his depicting fellow artist Mary Cassatt.

Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre: Painting, ca. 1877-80. Etching, aquatint, and drypoint. UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Regina Fadiman Estate, from the collection of Regina and William Fadiman.

"I can't paint the way they want me to paint and they know that too." –Rembrandt van Rijn, born on this day in 1606.

European old master paintings in our Armand Hammer Collection include two major works by Rembrandt, from both the earlier and later periods of the artist’s career, Portrait of a Man Holding a Black Hat (ca. 1637) and Juno (ca. 1662–65). http://bit.ly/1roBbwq