Charles Brittin becomes cool again

Brittin was the in-house photographer of the Los Angeles avant-garde artists who made the Ferus Gallery legendary in the 1950s and 1960s, then he faded from view. Now the Getty has acquired his images and plans to feature Brittin in a major retrospective of Los Angeles postwar art. He appears in the new Morgan Neville documentary, The Cool School, written with L.A. journalist Kristine McKenna. The film relives the Beat era when Brittin hung out with Ed Ruscha, Dennis Hopper, Ed Moses and Frank Gehry at the La Cienega Blvd. gallery where Andy Warhol had his first solo exhibition in 1962. The scene would continue late into the night around the corner at Barney's Beanery. See a sampling of Brittin's photos and read his story in Judy Graeme's latest post at Native Intelligence about Los Angeles photographers whose subject is the city.

Brittin's photo of model Beverly Walsh with mannequin was shot in 1957. It appears here courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Trust.

Noted: The second issue of Arthur, back in 2003, featured Brittin in a piece by McKenna.