LACMA, Marciano Art Foundation, Autry Museum of the American West and more have new showcases this month
Los Angeles’ biggest art and culture institutions celebrate shared connections through new exhibitions and events. Read on for what to see in February and beyond.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo
Credit: Courtesy of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Feb. 14 – Jan. 10, 2027
Helmed by senior exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel, with the support of assistant curator Emily Rauber Rodriguez, Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo fosters the very connection and transformation featured in the Hayao Miyazaki film. Guests can dive into an interactive animation table and make their own animated sequences, while little ones have a dedicated play zone that taps into the magic of Ponyo. Additionally, more than 100 hand-picked objects from Studio Ghibli are on display — some for the first time in North America — such as art boards, posters, an animation desk and original drawings. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, academymuseum.org
Autry Museum of the American West: Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents
Ed Mell’s Cascading Canyon Storm, 2021, oil on linen, at the Autry MuseumCredit: Masters of the American West James R. Parks Trustees’ Purchase Award, 2021
Feb. 14 – March 29
Inside the Autry’s Marilyn and Calvin Gross Gallery, works of desert scenescapes, sunshine landscapes and pueblo life channel American Manifest Destiny by early 20th century artists who left the East to find the right home. The Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents exhibition captures the rise of SoCal and the Southwest as centers of artistic innovation and its lasting impact from Laguna Beach to Santa Fe. 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park, theautry.org
The Broad: Wild Up: The Great Learning
Installation view of Robert Therrien: This is a Story at The Broad.Credit: Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com, courtesy of The Broad.
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Feb. 7
In tandem with the childlike wonderment of seeing the large-scale sculptures of Robert Therrien: This Is a Story (on view until April 5), orchestral collective Wild Up performs The Great Learning, Paragraphs 2 and 7 by Cornelius Cardew with 30 preselected non-musicians to inspire the collective joy rooted in making something bigger than ourselves. 221 S. Grand Ave., Downtown, thebroad.org
Getty Center: Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985
Member of Southern Media Photographing a Young Girl, Farish Street, Jackson, Mississippi, 1968 by Doris A. Derby (American, 1939–2022)Credit: National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of David Knaus/ © Doris A. Derby
Feb. 24 – June 14
In the West Pavilion’s lower level, this showcase of mid-20th century work by African American and Afro-Atlantic diaspora artists commemorates the power of photography. The new exhibition catalogues pieces from studio and street photographers, community organizers and graphic designers who celebrated Black culture while advancing the fight for civil rights. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu
Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Village Square: Gifts of Modern Art from the Pearlman Collection
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Messalina, 1900–01, promised gift from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation.Credit: Bruce White
Feb. 22 – July 5
Before being gifted to other museums in the U.S., almost 50 paintings from the esteemed Henry and Rose Pearlman collection — works that derived from close relationships among artists — land at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion for five months. Showcased artists include Paul Cézanne, Amedeo Modigliani, Édouard Manet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org
Marciano Art Foundation: Bruce Conner/Recording Angel
Bruce Conner, BREAKAWAY (1966), 16mm, black/white, sound, 5min Digitally Restored, 2016Credit: Courtesy of the Conner Family Trust and Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Feb. 21 – July 25
Independent curator Douglas Fogle makes good on counter-culture multidisciplinary artist Bruce Conner’s approach to his craft, which he best summed in a 1986 interview: “I learned to distrust words. I placed my bet on vision.” Catch a four-screen presentation of seven of his most quintessential films, woven together for a single projection in the Marciano Art Foundation Theater Gallery. 4357 Wilshire Blvd., Windsor Square, marcianoartfoundation.org
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles: Good on Paper: Works from the Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment
Ree Morton, Too Beautiful (Run from the Infatuated River… too Bewildered to Escape), 1975, crayon, graphite, and watercolor on shaped paper, 29 3/4 x 41 1/2 in. (75.57 x 105.41 cm).Credit: The Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment. © Estate of Ree Morton.
Feb. 24 – Aug. 2
The Gene J. and Betye M. Burton Acquisitions Endowment has grown MOCA’s collection since 1992, adding to the museum’s works on paper in the belief that such pieces can and should be seen as independent and ambitious art. Following the passing of Betye this past fall, MOCA honors her memory with a dedicated Good on Paper gallery featuring pastels, collages, watercolors and more by Lee Bontecou, John Cage, Cynthia Hawkins, Kahlil Robert Irving, Barry Le Va, Lee Lozano, Ree Morton, Nancy Rubins, Joey Terrill and Hannah Wilke. 250 S. Grand Ave., Downtown, moca.org
