The exhibition Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982, examines swimming pools in photographs from 1945 to 1982 as representations of the ideals and expectations associated with Southern California.

These images of individual water-based environs in the arid landscape are an integral part of Southern California's identity, a microcosm of the hopes and disillusions of the country's post-World War II ethos. As a private setting, the backyard pool became a stage for everything from sub-culture rituals to clandestine desires. As a medium, photography became the primary vehicle for embodying the polar emotions of consumer optimism and Cold War fears.

For the first time, this exhibition, its catalogue, and accompanying programs trace the integrated histories of photography and the iconography of the swimming pool, bringing new light to aspects of this complex interaction.

Backyard Oasis is currently on view at Palm Springs Art Museum.

Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982Bill Owens, Hockney Painted This Pool, 1980, Los Angeles County Museum of Art© Bill Owens
Michael Childers, The Hockney Swimmer, 1978Courtesy of Michael Childers © Michael Childers
Bill Anderson, Edris House, ca. 1954Collection Palm Springs Art Museum © Palm Springs Art Museum
Anthony Friedkin, Woman by the Pool, Beverly Hills Hotel, CA, 1975Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Luisotti © Anthony Friedkin
David Hockney, John St. Clair Swimming (from Twenty Photographic Pictures), 1972Sonnabend Collection, New York © David Hockney; photo credit Richard Schmidt
Leland Y. Lee, Silvertop - Hollywood Dawn, 1972Courtesy of the artist and Michael H. Lord Gallery © Leland Y. Lee
Herb Ritts, Richard Gere - Poolside, 1982Courtesy of the Herb Ritts Foundation, Los Angeles © Herb Ritts Foundation
Edward Ruscha, Nine Swimming Pools, 1968, one of nine c-type printsCourtesy of Ed Ruscha © Ed Ruscha

Lawrence Schiller, Marilyn Monroe, 1962/printed 2011Courtesy of Judith and Lawrence Schiller; Lawrence Schiller © Polaris Communications, Inc


Mel Roberts, Rich Thompson, Indio, 1963
Estate of Mel Roberts © Michael H. Epstein & Scott E. Schwimer


Mel Roberts, Robert and Cliff, Sherman Oaks, 1980
Estate of Mel Roberts © Michael H. Epstein & Scott E. Schwimer


Lawrence Schiller, Palm Springs Fashion, No. 8, 1964/printed 2011
Courtesy of Judith and Lawrence Schiller, Lawrence Schiller © Polaris Communications, Inc.


Courtesy Palm Springs Art Museum, CABackyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982January 21 - May 27, 2012

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