From our newsletter archives — Originally published February 22, 2022.
Edward Kienholz, Three Tableaux Including Back Seat Dodge, Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles), Poster, 1964. Poster Size: 12 x 9.25 Inches — Available for Purchase
When local Los Angeles artist Edward Kienholz debuted Back Seat Dodge at the Dwan Gallery in 1964, the life-size sculpture with two mannequins simulating sex in the back seat of a car inspired both chuckles and praise. Two years later in 1966, at the newly opened Los Angeles County Art Museum, the sculpture elicited a very different reaction. County supervisors called the work obscene, and threatened to cut off the museum’s funding unless the sculpture was removed. Eventually a compromise was reached: the car door was kept shut so children could not see the copulating mannequins, and museum visitors over age eighteen could ask a guard to open the car door and get a quick peek. It is no surprise that Back Seat Dodge soon became the most notorious artwork in Los Angeles.
Gallery 98 offers here a rare poster from the first showing of Back Street Dodge at the Dwan Gallery in 1964. It is part of a recently acquired collection of Dwan Gallery posters from the 1960s. Founded by Virginia Dwan in 1959, the Dwan Gallery, along with the Ferus Gallery, played a key role in bringing new art movements to Los Angeles. Each exhibition was accompanied by a poster designed by featured artists, such as Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Yves Klein, and Niki de St. Phalle.
Visit Gallery 98’s special Dwan Gallery page.
Claes Oldenburg, Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles), Poster, 1963. Poster Size: 17 x 22 Inches — Available for Purchase
See more Claes Oldenburg ephemera
Larry Rivers, Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles), Oversized Card, 1961. Card Size: 8.75 x 11.5 Inches — Available for Purchase
James Rosenquist, Dwan Gallery (Los Angeles), Oversized Card, 1964. Card Size: 9 x 12 inches — Available for Purchase
See more James Rosenquist ephemera
See more Dwan posters at Gallery 98’s special Dwan Gallery page.
