Ferus Gallery

Ferus Gallery

Company type	Private
Industry	Contemporary art gallery
Founded	1957
Founder	Walter Hopps, Shirley Hopps, Edward Kienholz
Defunct	1966
Headquarters	Los Angeles , United States
Key people	Walter Hopps, Shirley Hopps, Edward Kienholz, Irving Blum

The Ferus Gallery operated as a contemporary art gallery from 1957 until 1966. It originally opened at 736-A North La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, relocating in 1958 to 723 North La Cienega Boulevard, where it stayed until its closure.

History

Established in 1957 by curator Walter Hopps, his wife Shirley Hopps, and artist Edward Kienholz, the gallery was overseen by Walter and Shirley Hopps. The name "Ferus" was inspired by James Farris, an acquaintance of a friend of Hopps; the distinctive spelling was selected for its strong visual impact by logo designer Robert Alexander.

In 1958, Edward Kienholz departed to concentrate on his artistic work and was succeeded by Irving Blum. With financial support from silent partner Sayde Moss, the gallery moved to its new location at 723 N. La Cienega Boulevard. After experiencing limited sales across its first twenty exhibitions, Blum refined the roster to fourteen artists, balancing talents from both San Francisco and Los Angeles, which enhanced the gallery’s profitability.

During Blum’s tenure starting in 1958, Ferus showcased artists from both the West Coast and New York. It became the first gallery on the West Coast to host a solo exhibition of Andy Warhol, whom Blum encountered in New York in 1961. Blum also featured prominent East Coast figures such as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Frank Stella. The gallery played a significant role in promoting movements like Finish Fetish and Light and Space, contributing to Los Angeles’s emergence as a distinct art hub. Artist Ed Ruscha likened Ferus to a jazz record label that highlighted a variety of unique artistic voices.

Between 1960 and 1964, collector Marcia Simon Weisman organized monthly sessions aimed at beginner collectors, taught by Blum and Hopps. The gallery attracted devoted patrons including Robert Rowan, Edwin Janss, Betty Asher, and writer Michael Blankfort.

Walter Hopps departed in 1962 to become director of the Pasadena Art Museum. Ferus ceased operations in 1967 when Blum joined forces with Arne Glimcher of New York’s Pace Gallery to establish Ferus/Pace, a collaboration that lasted less than two years. Following this, Blum ran the Irving Blum Gallery before relocating to New York in 1972 to co-found BlumHelman Gallery with Joseph Helman; he returned to Los Angeles as a private art dealer in 1998. Starting in 1965, the offices of art magazine Artforum were situated above Ferus until their move to New York in 1967.

Notable exhibitions

The very first exhibition at Ferus Gallery, titled Objects on the New Landscape Demanding of the Eye (March 15 – April 11, 1957), included artists such as Frank Lobdell, Jay DeFeo, Craig Kauffman, Richard Diebenkorn, John Altoon, and Clyfford Still. Sonia Gechtoff also took part and was the first artist featured in a solo show at the gallery that same year.

In 1957, the gallery temporarily shut down after members of the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Wallace Berman on obscenity charges linked to his exhibition, which was his sole solo presentation.

July 1962 saw Andy Warhol: Campbell's Soup Cans, marking Warhol's initial solo pop art exhibition and debuting his iconic Soup Cans series. Five canvases sold for $100 apiece; however, Hopps and Shirley Nielsen Blum reversed some sales to preserve the collection intact. Eventually, the gallery secured ownership of all 32 paintings for $1,000.

Several Los Angeles artists launched their first solo exhibitions at Ferus, including: Wallace Berman (1957), Billy Al Bengston (1958), Ed Moses (1958), Robert Irwin (1959), John Mason (1959), Kenneth Price (1960), Llyn Foulkes (1962), Larry Bell (1962), and Ed Ruscha (1963).

Legacy

In 1968, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art presented the exhibition "Late Fifties at the Ferus," followed by "The Last Time I Saw Ferus" at the Newport Harbor Art Museum in 1976. Later, in 2002, New York's Gagosian Gallery showcased approximately 45 pieces by 22 artists linked to Ferus, curated by Irving Blum. This exhibition included promotional materials and photographs by Dennis Hopper, along with an extensive catalog.

The influential Ferus Gallery and its artists were the focus of the 2007 documentary film The Cool School.

In 2010, the Samuel Freeman gallery in Santa Monica reconstructed the Ferus Gallery experience, incorporating the original entry door and a faithful reproduction of Billy Al Bengston’s 1960 solo show. That same year, the Ferus Gallery was revived at its initial site under the leadership of Tim Nye with the exhibition Ferus Gallery Greatest Hits Vol. 1, featuring original contributors such as Craig Kauffman, Billy Al Bengston, Kenneth Price, and Ed Ruscha.

External links

• THE COOL SCHOOL page for Independent Lens on PBS
• Michael Wilson's Ferus Gallery resources
• KCET Departure, art historian Hunter Drohojowska-Phili explores the Ferus collective