A Peek Into Diamond Bar's Past at the Getty

Showcasing the unique character of Los Angeles, the J. Paul Getty Museum is host to In Focus: Los Angeles 1945-1980 – an exhibition of photographs by iconic and lesser known photographers whose careers have been shaped by the City of Angels. The exhibition, which is open to the public until May 6, 2012, is part of the region-wide Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 art initiative. 

More than 30 photographs have been selected by curator Virginia Heckert, and the exhibition features themes such as experimentation, street photography, architecture, and the film and entertainment industry to honor the area’s vibrant art scene post-WWII. 

The collection includes two photographs taken in Diamond Bar in 1980 by the late photographer Joseph Maurice “Joe” Deal. Deal, a Kansas native, specialized in photographing manmade landscapes – particularly in residential suburbs, and made his claim-to-fame after his work was included in the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape (1975), which featured pieces that showcased everyday life in America. 

A former photography professor at the University of California, Riverside, Deal captured the reality of modern day landscapes through the black-and-white photographs of two backyards in a master-planned community near the junction of the Pomona and Orange freeways in Diamond Bar. The photographs, taken from an elevated vantage point, give viewers a glimpse into neighboring backyards, displaying the close proximity of neighbors in such communities. 

The first of Deal’s black and white photographs included in the In Focus collection shows two young children playing in an above-ground swimming pool while sheets hang out to dry on a clothesline. An arbor, a lawn chair, and clothing scattered among a concrete slab fill the backyard. Above the home’s shingled roof, the front of neighboring homes can been seen across the street. 

The second photograph, taken from an elevated side-angle, depicts a patch of grass in the shape of a teardrop in the backyard of a two-story home. Around the grass are newly planted trees, aided by stakes. A swing set and lawn furniture complete the backyard. Viewers also see the homes of more than a dozen neighbors, each one right next door to another. 

Other artists featured in the collection include Jo Ann Callis, Robert Cumming, Judy Fiskin, Anthony Friedkin, Robert Heinecken, Anthony Hernandez, Man Ray, Edmund Teske, William Wegman, Garry Winogrand, Max Yavno, and Henry Wessel Jr. 

The J. Paul Getty Museum is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049.