Past Exhibitions

El Sueño Americano | The American Dream: Photographs by Tom Kiefer

October 17, 2019–March 8, 2020

How we treat the most vulnerable—including migrants seeking a better life—defines our character as a nation. Drawn from the photographic series of the same name, El Sueño Americano | The American Dream: Photographs by Tom Kiefer asks us to consider how we treat migrants as a reflection of who we are and who we want to be as Americans. Responding to the dehumanizing treatment migrants face in detention, Kiefer carefully arranged and photographed objects seized and discarded by border officials—objects deemed “potentially lethal” or “non-essential” among a variety of belongings crucial for sustenance, hygiene, protection, comfort, and emotional strength.

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Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs

October 17, 2019–March 8, 2020

For those who know him as a filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick’s early career as a photojournalist is a revelation. In 1945, the future director of such classic works as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) was just a teenager—but one with an uncanny photographic sensibility, who was already scouting human-interest stories for Look magazine. Explore this formative phase in the career of one of the twentieth century’s most influential figures in cinematic history.

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Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich

May 9–September 1, 2019

Los Angeles fashion designer Rudi Gernreich (1922–1985) introduced the “monokini,” the thong, unisex caftans, pantsuits for women, and enough inventive clothing to earn him a worldwide reputation. Yet Gernreich was far more than one of the most prominent designers of his time—his clothing was fearless. Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich explored the visionary and progressive ensembles that transcended rigid social expectations and championed authenticity above all.

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Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite

April 11–September 1, 2019

On view were the iconic images that amplified one of the most influential cultural movements of the 1960s: “Black Is Beautiful.” Featuring over forty photographs of black women and men with natural hair and clothes that reclaimed their African roots, Black Is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite, organized by Aperture Foundation, New York, was the first-ever major exhibition dedicated to this key figure of the second Harlem Renaissance.

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Sara Berman’s Closet

December 4, 2018–March 10, 2019

Sara Berman’s Closet was a one-of-a-kind exhibition by artists Maira Kalman (b. 1949) and Alex Kalman (b. 1985) inspired by the life of Maira’s mother and Alex’s grandmother, Sara Berman (1920–2004). 

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Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

October 19, 2018–March 10, 2019

With so much at stake on the Supreme Court, the exhibition explored the American judicial system through one of its sharpest legal minds. Coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of her appointment to the high court, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first-ever retrospective about the famed associate justice and American cultural icon. 

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The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited

June 1–September 2, 2018

The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited explored the imaginative world of Jim Henson (1936–1990) and his groundbreaking approach to puppetry and transformative impact on contemporary culture.

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Leonard Bernstein at 100

April 26–September 2, 2018

On the centennial of his birth, the Skirball presented Leonard Bernstein at 100—a celebration of the life and work of Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), the great American composer and conductor who dedicated his life to making classical music a vibrant part of American culture. Organized by the GRAMMY Museum® and curated by its founding executive director and renowned music historian, Robert Santelli, Leonard Bernstein at 100 was the official exhibition of the Bernstein centennial celebrations, which will include events at numerous performing arts venues around the United States. Encompassing half a century of activity by the “Renaissance man of American music,” as his New York Times obituary dubbed Bernstein, the exhibition was the most comprehensive retrospective of Bernstein’s life and career ever staged in a museum setting.

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Surface Tension by Ken Gonzales-Day

Murals, Signs, and Mark‐Making in LA

October 6, 2017–February 25, 2018

The exhibition featured a new body of photographic work by interdisciplinary artist Ken Gonzales-Day examining the mural landscape of LA—from East LA to Venice Beach, from Pacoima to South LA. Featuring over 140 photographs, Surface Tension by Ken Gonzales-Day: Murals, Signs, and Mark‐Making in LA considered what the city’s walls reveal about its diverse communities.

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Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner's Mexico

September 14, 2017–February 25, 2018

Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico offers a new perspective on the art and visual culture of Mexico and its relationship to the United States as seen through the life and work of the Mexican-born, American Jewish writer Anita Brenner (1905–1974). Brenner was an integral part of the circle of Mexican modernists in the 1920s and played an important role in promoting and translating Mexican art, culture, and history for audiences in the United States.

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Future Aleppo

May 23–September 3, 2017

Future Aleppo at the Skirball was an installation about the human capacity for resilience, hope, and perseverance in times of darkness. A four-by-four-foot model, Future Aleppo was created by a young Syrian boy and aspiring architect named Mohammed Qutaish while living through the indiscriminately violent war in Aleppo. Between 2012 and 2015, as he witnessed his beloved city being demolished, Mohammed crafted his vision for the future of Aleppo using paper, wood, colored pencils, and glue.

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Paul Simon: Words & Music

April 27–September 3, 2017

Making its only West Coast stop at the Skirball, Paul Simon: Words & Music—a traveling exhibition organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum—illustrated how the legendary artist’s music has reflected social and cultural ideals.

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Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in L.A.

October 7, 2016–March 12, 2017

Renowned for his inventive interplay of line, dot, and color, Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) shaped a new form of fine art. Departing from the intellectual, nonfigurative style of Abstract Expressionism, Lichtenstein depicted everyday objects and drew inspiration from comic books, advertisements, and children’s books. By integrating such popular imagery into the realm of fine art, he invited viewers to recognize the world around them in his work.

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The Unauthorized History of Baseball in 100-Odd Paintings: The Art of Ben Sakoguchi

April 7–September 4, 2016

In a series of colorful, captivating, and often provocative paintings, Los Angeles artist Ben Sakoguchi (b. 1938) examined how baseball, long referred to as America’s national pastime, reflects both the highs and lows of American culture. The son of a grocer and avid baseball fan, Sakoguchi juxtaposed the iconic imagery of vintage orange crate labels from the 1920s to the 1950s with whimsical, eccentric, and sometimes scathing portrayals of America’s beloved sport.

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Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American

April 7–October 30, 2016

There are people whose contributions to baseball history went far beyond mere batting averages or stolen bases. From Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax to Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Fernando Valenzuela, and Ichiro Suzuki, these are players who didn’t just play the game—they changed the game. For generations of American Jews and other minorities, they served as athletic, cultural, and ethical role models. Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American celebrated baseball and highlighted the role of baseball’s game changers—not only major league players but also vendors, team owners, minor leaguers, amateur players, scouts, broadcasters, journalists, novelists, and fans—who challenged the status-quo and inspired the nation.

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A Path Appears: Actions for a Better World

November 19, 2015–February 21, 2016

“Hope is like a path in the countryside. Originally, there is nothing, but as people walk this way again and again, a path appears,” wrote Chinese essayist Lu Xun.

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Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams

October 8, 2015–February 21, 2016

Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams presented a lesser-known dimension of celebrated photographer Ansel Adams’s body of work, and offered insight into a decisive and disquieting period in American history. Presented at the Skirball in association with the Japanese American National Museum, the exhibition featured fifty photographs by Adams of the Japanese American incarceration camp in Manzanar, California, during World War II. These photographs were the subject of Adams’s controversial book Born Free and Equal, published in 1944 while war was still being waged. The book protested the treatment of these American citizens and what Adams called their “enforced exodus.” Powerful forms of civic and artistic expression, the images spoke to the Skirball’s mission of confronting injustice, embracing diversity, and preserving community. Manzanar: The Wartime Photographs of Ansel Adams was curated by Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and organized by Photographic Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA.

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Citizen 13660: The Art of Miné Okubo

October 8, 2015–February 21, 2016

Citizen 13660: The Art of Miné Okubo presented a selection of archival material and rare original artwork by California-born artist Miné Okubo (1912–2001), who was among the thousands of Japanese American citizens forced to leave their homes and businesses for incarceration camps during World War II. In an effort to document the injustices of the camps, Okubo created nearly 200 pen and ink drawings capturing her everyday life and struggles. These vivid, dramatic drawings were subsequently published as the graphic novel Citizen 13660 (1946), the first illustrated memoir chronicling the camp experience. This exhibition explored this exceptional book and brought Okubo’s personal and historical narrative to life. 

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Petit Takett: Love, Legacy, and Recipes from the Maghreb

September 1, 2015–February 21, 2016

Sharing food is one of the most genuine forms of cultural exchange. Gathered at the dinner table, we reminisce, share stories, and engage with one another. Petit Takett: Love, Legacy, and Recipes from the Maghreb, an exhibition based on Los Angeles artist and photographer Orly Olivier’s Tunisian Jewish heritage, celebrated food as a powerful connection to the past. A diverse collection of original and historic photographs, family heirlooms, ephemera, and original letterpress posters illustrated the journey of Olivier’s family from Tunisia to Israel and finally to the United States, between the 1950s and the present.

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Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution

May 7, 2015–October 11, 2015

Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution was the first comprehensive retrospective about the life and career of legendary rock impresario Bill Graham (1931–1991). Recognized as one of the most influential concert promoters in history, Graham launched the careers of countless rock & roll legends in the ’60s at his famed Fillmore Auditorium. He conceived of rock & roll as a powerful force for supporting humanitarian causes and was instrumental in the production of milestone benefit concerts such as Live Aid (1985) and Human Rights Now! (1988). As a promoter and manager, he worked with the biggest names in rock, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones.

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The Singing Posters: Poetry Sound Collage Sculpture Book

Allen Ginsberg's Howl by Allen Ruppersberg

May 7, 2015–August 23, 2015

Allen Ruppersberg’s installation The Singing Posters: Poetry Sound Collage Sculpture Book paid tribute to Allen Ginsberg’s iconic poem Howl (1955–1956), a hallmark text of the ’50s Beat generation. In order to reinterpret the piece for contemporary audiences, Ruppersberg transcribed the poem into phonetic spellings and printed the “new” text on approximately 200 vibrantly colored commercial advertising posters installed floor to ceiling on gallery walls.

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Rock & Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip

March 24, 2015–August 16, 2015

Featuring more than twenty photographs of hand-painted billboards that dominated the Los Angeles landscape for almost two decades, this exhibition—displayed in the Skirball's community space known as the Ruby Gallery—brought to life a unique period in the history of rock & roll and the fabled Sunset Strip, whose nightclubs were the birthplace of rock & roll royalty. Photographer Robert Landau (b. 1953) traced the billboard phenomenon from the breakthrough promotion for the debut album by the Doors in 1967 to the advent of MTV in the 1980s, which signaled the end of an era.

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Café Vienne

October 23, 2014–March 10, 2015

Café Vienne was a site-specific exhibition developed for the Skirball by Austrian artist Isa Rosenberger (b. 1969). Within this immersive installation, which paid tribute to the important cultural role of Viennese coffee houses, Rosenberger honored little-known Jewish writer Gina Kaus (1893–1985).

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The Noir Effect

October 23, 2014–March 1, 2015

Following up where the exhibition Light & Noir: Exiles and Émigrés in Hollywood, 1933–1950 left off, The Noir Effect traced the influence of noir into more recent times, exploring how the genre has continued to impact American popular culture, art, and media. 

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Light & Noir

Exiles and Émigrés in Hollywood, 1933–1950

October 23, 2014–March 1, 2015

The exhibition Light & Noir: Exiles and Émigrés in Hollywood, 1933–1950 explored how the experiences of German-speaking exiles and émigrés who fled Nazi Europe—many of them Jews—influenced the classic films of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Visitors learned in depth how beloved movies such as Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Casablanca, and Ninotchka were shaped by the light and dark experiences of these pioneering film artists.

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Fallen Fruit of the Skirball

May 13–October 12, 2014

For this exhibition, Los Angeles art collaborative Fallen Fruit (David Burns and Austin Young) and the Skirball Cultural Center came together to produce an immersive art installation that celebrated Jewish heritage, relationships, and love. 

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The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats

April 10–September 7, 2014

This exhibition showcased the evocative world of the pioneering author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (1916–1983), featuring more than eighty original works by the artist. Ranging from preliminary sketches and preparatory books to final paintings and collages, the works displayed in The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats explored a life and career that became an inspiration for generations of readers and authors.

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To the Point

Posters by Dan Reisinger

January 14–May 11, 2014

Dan Reisinger (b. 1934) is one of Israel’s design pioneers, known internationally for his innovative use of symbols and vibrant visual language. This exhibition presented a selection of his iconic posters spanning the past fifty years, including posters of social and political protest (1963–1993), advertisements commissioned by the airline EL AL (1968–1972), and a recent series focused on the changing architectural landscape of Tel Aviv (2012). Reisinger, who also created a fifty-meter-long wall relief for the Moshe Safdie–designed Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Israel, is known for producing work that conveys “maximum meaning” by “minimum means.”

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Global Citizen

The Architecture of Moshe Safdie

October 22, 2013–March 2, 2014

Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie surveyed the renowned architect’s career from his formative period in the 1960s and early 1970s to his recent projects around the world, exploring his aesthetic language of transcendent light, powerful geometry, and iconic forms. Using sketches, models, photographs, and films of twenty-five projects, the exhibition portrayed Safdie's architecture not only as visual art but as a medium for advancing social, political, and cultural goals.

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Women Hold Up Half the Sky

October 27, 2011—May 20, 2012

The traveling exhibition Women Hold Up Half the Sky was inspired by the critically acclaimed book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

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