John Altoon

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents the first major retrospective of John Altoon (1925–1969), an artist whose brief but significant career unfolded in Southern California. Co-organized with the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, the exhibition features approximately 70 artworks (including seven from LACMA’s collection) that cover the full range of Altoon’s artistic production, from the gestural abstraction of his celebrated Ocean Park paintings, to the subversive style of his advertising satires and late figurative drawings.

Image credits:

John Altoon, Jazz Players, c. 1950, Collection Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, gift of Stanley Marcus © 2014 Estate of John Altoon

John Altoon, Untitled, 1958, Pauline Annon © 2014 Estate of John Altoon, photo © 2014 Museum Associates/LACMA

John Altoon, Untitled, c. 1958–59, Holly and Albert Baril © 2014 Estate of John Altoon, photo © 2014 Museum Associates/LACMA

John Altoon, Untitled, 1961, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the Grinstein Family © 2014 Estate of John Altoon, photo © 2014 Museum Associates/LACMA