Museum visit and term paper guidelines
Pasadena Museum of California Art
L.A. Raw: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles, 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy
The figurative artists who dominated the Los Angeles art scene in the 1940s and '50s have largely been written out of
today's art history. Bringing together works by 40 artists in a variety of media, L.A. Raw traces a different through-line,
connecting post-war figurative expressionism to the '60s and '70s investigations of politics, gender and ethnicity that
are commonly credited as shaping today's art. Among the artists featured are John Altoon, Wallace Berman, William
Brice, Hans Burkhardt, Chris Burden, Cameron, Edward Carrillo, Judy Chicago, Connor Everts, Llyn Foulkes, Charles
Garabedian, David Hammons, Robert Heinecken, John Paul Jones, Kim Jones, Ed Kienholz, Rico Lebrun, Paul
McCarthy, Arnold Mesches, Betye Saar, Ben Sakoguchi, Barbara Smith, James Strombotne, Jan Stussy, Edward
Teske, Joyce Treiman, Howard Warshaw, June Wayne, Charles White, and Jack Zajac.
490 E. Union St., Pasadena, CA 91101, OPENING HOURS: Wednesday - Sunday, 12-5pm
$7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors and Students, Free to Members, *Special offer with the Pacific Asia
Museum on Colorado and Los Robles: Attend both museums in the same day, 50% off admission at
the second museum when you present proof of entrance.
Pacific Asia Museum
46 N. Los Robles: A History of the Pasadena Art Museum
This show will for the first time trace the entire development of the Pasadena Art Museum (1945-1974), focusing on
its years in the Grace Nicholson Building on North Los Robles Avenue, currently the home of Pacific Asia Museum.
The exhibition will present important modern and contemporary works shown at the Pasadena Art Museum in its
groundbreaking exhibitions, along with installation photographs of the exhibitions and on-site photographs of the
important individuals involved in the Museum. An exhibition that Walter Hopps organized in 1963 propelled Pasadena
Art Museum onto the international cultural map: the first retrospective of the work of Marcel Duchamp (with Duchamp
attending). Until the Museum moved to a new building in late 1969, 46 N. Los Robles was the site of some of the
most important contemporary exhibitions of the time, including Pop Art (which featured early works by Andy Warhol
among others), New American Sculpture, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers, Frank Stella, Joseph Cornell, Roy Lichtenstein
- the list of significant one-person and group shows is extensive, and conveys the impact this institution had on the
nation's contemporary art scene.
46 N Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101, 626.449.2742, OPENING HOURS: Wed - Sun 10am to 6pm.
$9 for General Admission, $7 for Students and Seniors.
Norton Simon Museum
The Museum houses an extensive collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, with seminal works by Pablo Picasso,
Georges Braque, Henri Matisse and Diego Rivera on permanent view. The Galka Scheyer collection of works by the
Blue Four artists boasts paintings and works on paper by Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Alexei Jawlensky and Vasily
Kandinsky, a selection of which are on view. The Museum’s selection of Post-War Contemporary Art, while not
always on display, is noteworthy for its strength in collage, assemblage and sculpture, including works by Joseph
Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson, George Herms and Ed Kienholz. Pop Art and Minimal Art are
represented by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd and Robert Irwin. Californian art from the 1950s through
the 1970s is a particular strength, with artwork by Sam Francis, Richard Diebenkorn, Larry Bell, Edward Ruscha and
Ed Moses. Major sculptors of the early 20th century, including Aristide Maillol, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore,
Barbara Hepworth and Isamu Noguchi, are represented by works in bronze, lead and marble throughout the galleries
and garden.
411 West Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91105, OPENING HOURS: M, W, Thurs, Sat, Sun: 12:00 noon 6:00 p.m., Friday noon - 9 p.m., Closed Tuesdays. Students with valid I.D. are FREE, adults - $10.
We will meet at the PMCA @ 2pm on Thursday March 8th then
work our way back, stopping at the Pacific Asia Museum, then
the Norton Simon Museum.
**Don’t forget to bring your STUDENT I.D.** Visit museum web sites for directions.
Choose any one sculptural artwork in the museum’s collection or above exhibition to write a
personal assessment of that work. The written analysis of the work should begin with all the
pertinent info (who, what, when, where), then breakdown the formal aspects of the composition,
describe the subject matter, derive what content there may be, then conclude with your personal
response. Follow the criteria on the reverse for further formulation.
A three page paper will be required which documents your response to a sculptural object that
you observe on view at the Museum. Include a personal statement reflecting your experience in
class working with similar materials and processes.
Expectations:
Write a term paper based on a sculptural work of art you choose at the Museum. I expect you to
write a visual description and analysis of the work you chose and you may include a brief
description of your museum experience. I expect the paper to be at least three (3) typed pages,
double-spaced. To do this, please follow the steps outlined below:
Step 1: First, just look at the work itself (not the wall label). Take detailed descriptive notes on
the work you chose as you see it. What type of sculpture is it? What is the artwork made from?
What is going on in the image? What colors are being used (describe all colors)? What is the
style, subject matter, etc? You should have enough notes on the artwork so that you can write
approximately three (3) typed pages, with at least one and a half pages of description.
Step 2: Then, note the artist’s name, the title of the work, the medium in which it is made, the
date of the work and the size or approximate size of the work (especially in relation to other
objects in the room). Much of this factual information will be on the wall label next to the
artwork.
Step 3: Next, make a rough sketch of the way the artwork looks. This sketch will not be
graded, but it must be included with your paper that you turn in to me. The sketch will help you
to remember the details of the image. I will also accept a postcard or photograph of the image
that you can attach in addition to the sketch, but you must have a self drawn sketch.
Step 4: Finally, go home and start writing. I would like you to address the following questions in
your paper.
Assume that the reader of your paper is not me but someone else (a family friend, a brother or
sister, etc.), that is, someone who may not know much about art or who may not know which
work you chose. This will help you to write a better, more detailed description of the artwork.
However, this does not mean that you should write in an informal manner; this is a college-level
assignment and should be treated as such. You might have a friend read over your paper before
handing it to me to see if it makes sense to them, or read the paper aloud to yourself to see if it
sounds logical and grammatically correct.
Format:
The paper should include a title, an introductory paragraph and a concluding paragraph.
Papers must be typed on clean white paper, double spaced, with no more than 1" margins all
around and using a font size no larger than Times New Roman 12. Please run the spell check
feature before turning the paper in to me; spell check will not catch all errors, but it will clean up
some basic and minor spelling issues. Attach the sketch, and the three typed pages, and attach a
cover sheet with the title of your paper, your full name. Length should be approximately three
(3) typed pages.