Backyard Oasis

Book excerpt: 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 photographs of swimming pools 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. The catalogue 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.