Join us for a weekend celebration of the fourth year of living large in the Study Center for Photography and Works on Paper! In this latest in a series of pop-up displays, on view May 18 and 19 only, the focus is on photographs that entered the collection through the generosity of one of our many local donors. We invite you to see a range of works by artists who happen to be women, who happen to use photography, and who now happen to call LACMA home.

Eve Schillo with visitors in the Study Center for Photography and Works on Paper at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Visiting this distinctive space, (neither a gallery proper nor viewable storage) is a casual and more self-guided way to experience artwork in a museum setting. The Study Center is made possible through (more) local support provided by The Fredric Roberts Foundation, with additional support from the Flora L. Thornton Foundation. Created to provide additional access to both photographs and works on paper—two media that cannot be on view permanently because extended light exposure would eventually harm them—the Study Center is by no means an "insider" museum zone, but rather quite intentionally the opposite.

Ann Summa, Exene Cervenka Of X, In The Ladies' Room At The Masque, 1979, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Lynda and Robert Shapiro, © Ann Summa, photo courtesy of the artist

Catherine Opie, Frankie, 1994, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Mr. Cary Stevens and Dr. Allen Green in Memory of Edward Judd, © Catherine Opie, digital image © Museum Associates/LACMA

Catherine Wagner, Unsterilized Dispensing Tubes, 1994, from the series re:Search, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Mr. Cary Stevens and Dr. Allen Green in Memory of Edward Judd, © Catherine Wagner, photo courtesy of the artist

It is a uniquely democratic viewing zone, open for anyone who finds us, whether that is through a meander from the exhibition next door, or from a wrong turn (it happens, LACMA's huge!), or from a planned visit with a class (to date, over 16,000 of you found us this way). We’ve held some amazing events in our four years here, with programmatic support through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as well as hosting the expected visits by artists, scholars, and curators (over 500 to date, with more than 5,000 photographs viewed).

Celebrating Local Donors offers a small glimpse into some of our homegrown support for photography, and, in turn, signifies the impact of such donations as they affect the growing parity of women artists within LACMA’s collection. This display includes a range of approaches to the photographic medium, with works dating from the 1890s to the present, all by women. It is a wink and a nod to the visionary practice of Eleanor Antin, on view in the adjacent gallery.

Terry Braunstein, Baggage, 1984, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds from Lynda and Robert M. Shapiro, © Terry Braunstein, photo courtesy of the artist

Eileen Cowin, Untitled, 1980–83, printed 1999, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Norman Starr, © Eileen Cowin, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Lala Deen Dayal, Guest Camp, Gwalior, December 1894, 1894, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Christina Fernandez, William (Holcomb Valley), 2017, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the Ralph M. Parsons Fund and Photography Acquisition Fund, © Christina Fernandez, photo courtesy of the artist

Barbara Kasten, Amalgam, Untitled 79_16, 1979, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Robert M. and Lynda Shapiro, © Barbara Kasten, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Celebrating Local Donors is on view May 18 and 19, in the Study Center for Photography and Works on Paper, located in the Art of the Americas Building. Eleanor Antin: Time's Arrow is on view in the Art of the Americas Building through July 7, 2019.