Backyard Oasis

As part of the Getty Foundation's Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 regional initiative, the exhibition Backyard Oasis, mounted by Palm Springs Art Museum in 2012, examines swimming pools in photographs from 1945 to 1982 as visual analogs 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 the region's identity, a microcosm of the hopes and disillusionments of the...
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As part of the Getty Foundation's Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980 regional initiative, the exhibition Backyard Oasis, mounted by Palm Springs Art Museum in 2012, examines swimming pools in photographs from 1945 to 1982 as visual analogs 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 the region's identity, a microcosm of the hopes and disillusionments of the country's post-World War II ethos. As a private setting, the backyard pool became a stage for sub-culture rituals and clandestine desires. As a medium, photography became the primary vehicle for embodying the polar emotions of consumer optimism and Cold War fears. Crossing the boundaries of popular and high culture, commercial merchandising, journalistic reporting, and vernacular memorabilia, photography conveyed the developing ideologies of the period. As such, its visual language forms a network of discursive topics that open onto each other, offering a rich study of physical and cultural geography. The accompanying catalogue provides an opportunity to extend the exhibition's content with additional images drawn from print and other media. It contains an introductory essay providing an overview of the development of the swimming pool and its attendant aesthetic and social culture. Authored by the exhibition's organizing curator and its contributing research team members, the catalogue's five chapters are: Exposed Desires: Poolside Reflections on Celebrity, Daniell Cornell, Senior Curator and Deputy Director for Art, Palm Springs Art Museum; Swimming Alone: The Backyard Pool in Cold War California, Jennifer Watts, Curator of Photographs, Huntington Library, San Marino; Designing Nature: The Pool in the Garden, Robert Stearns, Independent Curator and Project Coordinator, Palm Springs; From Beefcake to Skatecake: Subcultures and Masculinity, Tyler Stallings, Director, Sweeny Art Gallery, University of California, Riverside; Dystopia and the Swimming Pool, Dick Hebdige, Professor of Art, University of California, Santa Barbara.