How is it that until about a week ago I'd never heard of the surrealist photographer Francesca Woodman? We even went to the same school.

Chris Burden's Metropolis II installation opens to the public on Saturday. It was previewed for the media yesterday.

After viewing the traveling show "The Elizabeth Taylor Collection" at MOCA PDC this morning, it isn't hard to understand why Andy Warhol once said, "It would be very glamorous to be reincarnated as a great big ring on Liz Taylor's finger."

An exhibition of the artists who formed a community around Sam Maloof in the Claremont area opens today at the Huntington Library.

The exhibition opening Sunday at LACMA is organized "in relation to Burbank," Burton's hometown.

If last week's royal wedding has left you wanting more things British, check out the Huntington Library's exhibit "Revisiting the Regency: England, 1811-1820"

David Smith, considered the greatest American sculptor of the 20th century, is the subject of a new exhibit opening April 3 at LACMA's Resnick Pavilion. That's almost poignant, since he died in 1965 before the new museum could show his work.

The French co-curator of the Getty's current photography exhibit learned to love trees at an early age.

I have a confession to make. I'm a Bill-a-holic. I can't start the weekend without first checking out legendary photographer Bill Cunningham's column of street fashion on the New York Times website.

Here's a preview of the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition of costumes from this year's films, which opens Tuesday at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

I knew I would love LACMA's current exhibit "Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915." Getting to view the historical dresses, men's wear and period undergarments with a top Hollywood costume designer was an extra treat.

LACMA's unveiling of the new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion continued today with a preview for the media.

On a recent morning in a bright, pristine studio near Downtown, dancers with the City Ballet of Los Angeles rehearse an upcoming piece. Their studio is in a Salvation Army community center in the Pico-Union district, not far from Staples Center and L.A. Live.

One of my Oscar rituals is to visit the annual exhibit of motion picture costumes at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Downtown. Check out this year's show.

Mini-malls might seem an unlikely subject for photographer and UCLA professor Catherine Opie, who first gained notoriety in the art world with large-scale portraits of the sadomasochistic leather culture in San Francisco.

Audio slide show: I was allowed to observe up close as the dancers in the Los Angeles Ballet prepared for this year's Nutrcracker.

The Los Angeles artist grew up near downtown and named her newest exhibit after the Spanish and Japanese words for dreams.

When an important photographer like Penn works for this many years, people are bound to be affected on different levels. I know I have been.

Jo Ann Callis is one of the few living artists to be featured in a Getty exhibition. Her students are impressed.

When do we ever get to appreciate their work? Now we can — and help public schools too.

Jessie Gentry is fascinated by Los Angeles' grittier history, including murder scenes. Next in the Observing an L.A. Photographer series.

Last week in Arizona I got a taste of Manny mania and the reality was even more intriguing than the media hype. I stood inches away from the star hitter and had the strongest urge to touch his hair.

I got a little teary when I heard that Richard Jenkins was nominated for a best actor Oscar for "The Visitor." I met him when I was a photography student at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Legendary 19th-century photographer Carleton Watkins, who is the subject of an exhibition at the Getty, traveled hard miles around California with a simple motto: stand "where the view looks best."

Monica Almeida has the perspective of a native Angeleno who photographs Los Angeles for an East Coast newspaper: the New York Times.

The late photographer shot some of the most iconic images of Los Angeles, and you can see some of them now at the Huntington.

Charles Brittin's images of 1950s and '60s Los Angeles — especially the art avant-garde and Venice Beach before money arrived — might finally bring him the fame he deserves.

LAPL senior librarian Carolyn Kozo Cole and volunteers are pulling together photos that tell the history of Los Angeles' lost age as a manufacturing power. From tire plants to perfume factories, It's the historical record of "a beautiful subject," she says.

Photographer Joyce Campbell gave us a fresh way of viewing neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Each of the images was made using soil she collected on forays around the city.

Until I read Steve Martin's enjoyable new memoir, "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life," I never would have connected him with Diane Arbus. She photographed circus freaks and transvestites. He always seemed more straight.

Our booth was the best place to hide from the vultures hovering outside. Lunch was ruined anyway, so the course of action was obvious. "Why don't you guys take our table," I offered. Katherine Heigl accepted with a smile.

Some of the most heartfelt, gut-wrenching — and sometimes simply beautiful — street photography in Los Angeles is being created by low-income teenagers who meet once a week after school at the St. Francis Center on Hope Street in Downtown.

The just opened exhibit "Julius Shulman's Los Angeles" at the LAPL's Getty Gallery is a love letter (albeit a complex one) from Shulman to the city he has called home since 1920.

For 27 years Iris Schneider took pictures for the Times. Now she's exploring the city on her own.

Edward Weston tried to expunge Los Angeles from his memory late in life, but he created many important photographs here. Some of them are coming to the Getty this month.

That's it for me. Harper's Bazaar lost me for good with this month's cover. Can't say I didn't warn them....

My 17-year-old daughter and I have many things in common, but perhaps the most surprising is our mutual deep affection for Dustin Hoffman.

Manhattan Beach's most notorious lingerie model is back from holiday and ready for her close-up.

"Getty Underground" is an in-house art show of work by museum employees — from curators to receptionists. They do it every two years, but only staffers and selected visitors ever get to see it.

I am going through what might be the most terrifying phase a parent in Los Angeles must endure. I am...

I like fashion magazines, I admit it. I've had a subscription to Vogue for as long as I can remember...