January 2027
January opens almost nothing new, so the month belongs to winter's holdovers. Paul R. Williams's archive makes its public debut at the Getty, and Manet's Execution of Maximilian hangs at the Norton Simon, under San Gabriels that often carry snow after a January storm. The Fowler's Ifugao rice guardians leave on the 31st.
Getty CenterUntil 14 March
Original plans for the 28th Street YMCA and Second Baptist Church, from an archive long believed burned. Williams was the first licensed Black architect in the western US; the show is about what he built for Black Los Angeles.
Norton Simon MuseumUntil 1 March
Degas gathered the cut-up fragments of Manet's canvas and reassembled them on one support, so Maximilian survives only as a hand gripping a general's. The National Gallery's loan hangs with Getty Research Institute archive material.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)Until 14 March
In a 1959 Look spread, the RCA Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen runs itself; men behind two-way mirrors were working it. Close to 200 objects show how tomorrow's home was sold, from a 1933 "toilet of the future" to Drop City's domes.
Hammer MuseumFree
Thread-on-fabric dresses from the 1970s stand on mannequins next to ten caftans Caland designed for Pierre Cardin. About 150 works, from 1970 to 2011, make up the Lebanese artist's first US retrospective, with humour and the body running through it.
Academy Museum of Motion PicturesUntil 25 July
Hannibal Lecter's straitjacket, Patrick Bateman's suit and Annie Wilkes's coveralls share a clinical white room, one of six chambers holding nearly 400 objects. Fangoria praised its "love and respect" for the genre; it's for people who already know the films.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)Until 6 June
Flamingo-pink unspun wool hangs in MOCA's tallest gallery. Vicuña's quipu, the Andean knotted record, is about water, made with communities in Chile and Los Angeles, and comes with a five-channel video of Colla rituals in the Atacama.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
A 31-foot vertical screen, sprocket holes matted into the picture, plays eleven silent minutes shot on 35mm. You can see the projection booth from the mezzanine. Time Out called it "a triumphant touting of film's resurgence".
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical GardensUntil 1 March
Lane's 1964 Mutual Savings mural, 4,876 tiles, sits in the Banta courtyard; inside are more than 100 weed pots and clay paintings. Art and Cake's critic admitted fighting the urge to lick the pots.
The BroadFree
It starts with Guadalupe Rosales's 1992 LA Times front page, set behind a two-way mirror under shifting lights. Fourteen artists, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon and Mickalene Thomas among them, pick at how the news turns into memory.
Fowler Museum at UCLACloses 31 January
Carved bulul figures, guardians of the rice harvest, lead 110 objects chosen by Marlon Martin, with a hagabi ceremonial bench and a model Ifugao house. UCLA radiocarbon work dates the terraces to the 16th century, not 2,000 years ago.
Getty CenterFree
Five photographers (Laura Aguilar, Reynaldo Rivera, George Rodriguez, Patssi Valdez and Ricardo Valverde) whose work expanded depictions of Chicano/a communities in Los Angeles in the late 20th century.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Black-and-white portraits by Venezuelan artist Alexander Apóstol cast the archetypal roles of Latin American populist and authoritarian political theatre.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
LACMA's own Impressionist holdings set among the prints, photography, decorative arts and fashion of late-19th-century France. Resnick Pavilion.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Five decades of the L.A. artist's provocative photography and video, blurring fact and fiction to probe romance, rivalry and the mystery of daily life. BCAM, Level 2.
Getty CenterFree
Works by 13 photographers including the Álvarez Bravos, Héctor García and Graciela Iturbide, drawn from a 25-year gift to the Getty tracing a century of Mexican photographic creativity.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Five years of major purchases and gifts, from Julie Mehretu and Henry Taylor to Suzanne Jackson and Charles Gaines, grouped by theme across the galleries.
Hammer MuseumFree
Chicago artist Mike Cloud's large-scale collaged portraits and mixed-media assemblages exploring consumer culture and childhood.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Screenwriting as an art form, through scenes from Double Indemnity, The Long Goodbye and Pulp Fiction and how each reworks film noir conventions.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
After-dark walk-through with glowing installations, projections and artwork by LA artist Maggie West across the museum's indoor and outdoor spaces.
Getty CenterFree
Northern European paintings and illuminated manuscripts c. 1500 show the Holy Family as a loving trio in a domestic interior, centred on Getty's newly acquired Gerard David.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, diverse perspectives on nature, nation, and the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyFree
A reproduction of a hand-edited draft of the Declaration of Independence, paired with artifacts from 250 years of American civil rights history.
Hammer MuseumFree
An installation using electroforming to grow copper over plants and cables, exploring electricity as a form of interconnectedness.
Petersen Automotive Museum
A case study in off-road motorsport: champion rally, desert, dirt-track and motocross machines, each once the pinnacle of engineering in its discipline.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Carved guardians, ritual bowls, textiles and video reveal how the Ifugao people's rice terraces entwine sustenance and spirituality.
Wende MuseumFree
Photographs from Argentine newspapers La Razón and Clarín trace four decades of political life, from Perón through coups and rallies to the return of democracy.
Autry Museum of the American West
Historical and contemporary objects, media and art examine how diverse Angelenos have claimed and contested life, liberty and happiness across two centuries of LA history.
Hammer MuseumFree
The Brazilian artist's U.S. institutional debut, centered on her film documenting rural life, reggae and African diasporic memory in Maranhão.
Norton Simon Museum
Bronze, silver and ivory art from Kandy, Sri Lanka's last royal capital before British colonial rule, blending Buddhist devotion and royal patronage.
Museum of Latin American Art
About 40 women artists from 20 countries explore the colour red through abstraction and figuration, drawn from the MIA Art Collection.
GRAMMY Museum L.A. LIVE
Stage-worn outfits from the SOUR and GUTS tours, the dresses from the newest album's cover art, and items from the Daisy Chain Fields festival.
GRAMMY Museum L.A. LIVE
Handmade sets, props, and original artwork from the "the cure" music video, including her nurse costume and hospital props.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
Two-part show on Leguillon's collecting practice: 250-plus ads of artists as brand ambassadors, plus his traveling Museum of Mistakes.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
The US premiere of Dean's 2011 vertical 35mm installation, an 11-minute silent celebration of analog photochemical film.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Over 112 years of Aston Martin excellence, from racing heritage to modern hypercars, including the DB5 of James Bond fame.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Examines how Marilyn Monroe shaped her own public image within the classical studio system, with rare artifacts and screen-worn costumes from Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Hammer MuseumFree
A retrospective of over 60 works from the Jamaican-born artist's 50-year career in geometric abstraction, including her Broken Construction series.
Getty CenterFree
New paintings by the Los Angeles artist answering the violence and theatricality of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi works in Getty's collection.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Six-decade retrospective of ~50 rarely seen works by LA artist Carl Cheng, exploring environmental change and technology at the intersection of ecology and identity.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Yokoyama's first institutional solo show: ceramic sculpture, experimental animation and holography exploring metamorphosis and underworld mythologies.
Hammer MuseumFree
A retrospective of about 150 works by the Lebanese artist, spanning 1970-2011, exploring humor, language, gender and the body.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Commissioned mural on ICA LA's 7th Street facade: silhouetted bodies in nature drawn from queer archives, topographic maps and community photography.
Skirball Cultural Center
Original comic art and rare artifacts trace how comic books shaped 20th-century American identity, from WWII through hip-hop and civil rights movements.
Norton Simon Museum
Manet's ambitious, near-life-sized painting of the 1867 firing-squad execution of Emperor Maximilian, on loan from the National Gallery, London.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Photographs by Laura Aguilar made 1984-1992 documenting Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Los Angeles, drawn from her estate.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
First major museum retrospective on Los Angeles ceramic artist Doyle Lane (1923-2002).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Four decades of Reiko Sudō's innovative textiles for NUNO, merging tradition with experimentation and handicraft with technology. Resnick Pavilion.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Nearly 200 rare early American motorcycles from Professor Richard Bunch's collection, spanning the pioneer era through the Great Depression.
Getty CenterFree
Public debut of the archive of Paul R. Williams, the first Black architect licensed in the western US, and his work for and with Black Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Two kitchens from LACMA's collection in conversation: Schütte-Lihotzky's 1926–30 Frankfurt kitchen and Perriand and Le Corbusier's 1948–50 Marseille kitchen. Resnick Pavilion.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Models, drawings, films and objects from sinks to TV sets trace how the American home of tomorrow was imagined and sold, and who was left out. Resnick Pavilion.
Getty CenterFree
Reunites Wright of Derby's 1760s candlelit pictures, including Getty's rediscovered Two Boys with a Bladder, and explores the technique behind them.
Getty CenterFree
Portraits by Gainsborough, Goya and David centred on the US debut of Reynolds's Portrait of Mai, the first Polynesian visitor to Great Britain.
Getty CenterFree
Traces the four hand-crafted stages of a medieval book (preparing parchment, writing, painting and binding) through manuscripts from the Museum's collection.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Celebrates Studio Ghiblis 2008 film Ponyo through over 100 rare hand-drawn animation artworks, including original art by Hayao Miyazaki, many shown in North America for the first time.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Screen-used vehicles and production prototypes marking 25 years of the Fast & Furious franchise's most iconic builds.
The BroadFree
Collection show on how media shapes history and memory, with Guadalupe Rosales, Hank Willis Thomas, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Warhol and Mickalene Thomas.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyFree
Rare, spectacular mineral and crystal specimens, some displayed publicly for the first time.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Daimler-Benz merger with a broad range of Mercedes-Benz models spanning the marque's engineering history.
Chinese American Museum
The museum's inaugural show in its newly expanded gallery: seven decades of Diana Shuiu Wong's abstract works blending traditional Chinese and contemporary Western aesthetics.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Life-size orca replicas and Indigenous Pacific Northwest Coast art explore the bond between orcas, people, and the ocean.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Sandy Rodriguez's largest installation to date, including a 20-foot map of the United States painted on hand-processed amate-fiber paper.
Craft Contemporary
Nine artists from the California Community Foundation Fellowship use fire as a lens on cultural perseverance, identity and ancestral memory.
Craft Contemporary
Indigenous artist collective's residency 'Fuego Medicinal' on fire, natural dyes, textiles and California native-plant craft traditions.
Craft Contemporary
Colombian artist's first LA solo show, juxtaposing colonial bronze casting with Indigenous weaving to examine the conquest of the Americas.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Contemporary Whakatōhea weavers respond to an ancestral kaitaka (cloak) from the Fowler's collection, bringing ancient and modern Māori art into dialogue.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
A two-story immersive installation exploring six aesthetic themes of cinematic light and color -- sunrise/sunset, moon, neon, candlelight, fireworks, and campfire -- via synchronized projections and an original score.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
A new Schmidt Prize commission by Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña: a collaborative 'quipu of encounters' on the water crisis, linking communities in Chile and LA.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Immersive environments by Julian Charrière on water systems and planetary fragility, including a new commission for the inaugural Schmidt Environment and Art Prize.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Photographer, filmmaker and Pikes Peak racer Jeff Zwart's four-decade life with Porsche, told through his images, films and historic cars in The Vault.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Three South Asian artists (Suchitra Mattai, Jagdeep Raina, Swapnaa Tamhane) use textiles as counter-monuments memorializing overlooked communities.
Autry Museum of the American West
Works from the Autry's Native American collections explore Knowing, Creating and Transference, curated in part by three contemporary Plains Indian artists reflecting on their traditions.
Petersen Automotive Museum
LA artist Joshua Vides hand-paints black outlines onto real cars in a mechanic's garage scene, flattening them into what looks like a 2D sketch.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Immersive exhibition on horror cinemas cultural impact, with props and costumes from Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and more, across six themed chambers.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Family-friendly look at how filmmakers create movie zombies, set in a playful pretend cemetery with an interactive animatronic puppet by Spectral Motion.
Petersen Automotive Museum
A chronological timeline of record-setting automobiles from the postwar era to today, tracing how aerodynamics and powertrain design chased raw speed.
Wende MuseumFree
Co-curated with a NASA historian, this show pairs Cold War-era and contemporary artworks with artifacts like a full-scale Sputnik-1 model on the Space Race and cosmos in art.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Over 100 objects from the Oscar-winning director's films, including storyboards, concept art, creature models, props and on-set photographs.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Betye Saar's Huntington-commissioned site-specific installation: a 17-foot vintage wooden canoe with found objects including birdcages and antlers.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Explores the design dialogue between American automakers and Italian coachbuilders, pairing American mechanical strength with European styling.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Traces Waymo's evolution from Google's self-driving car project to a leading autonomous vehicle company, showing the tech turning sci-fi into reality.
California Science CenterFree
17,000-sq-ft exhibition with 25+ interactive activities exploring the science of sports and movement, featuring LA-based mentor athletes; on view through the 2028 Olympics.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Tongva artist Mercedes Dorame's commissioned installation on Southern California's freshwater springs: photographs, painting, sculpture, ceramics and a Tongva-poetry soundscape.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Outdoor sculpture in the Stroll Garden of charred Sierra Nevada timber and glazed ceramic teardrops, on forest destruction and regrowth.
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.
