Glicksman, Hal

Hal Glicksman curated many key contemporary art exhibitions in Southern California the 1960s and 1970s, and helped establish and foster important Southern California art institutions. As a preparator at the Pasadena Art Museum under the leadership of Walter Hopps, Glicksman worked on the important Marcel Duchamp retrospective in 1963. He designed and installed the United States presentation for the Eighth São Paulo Bienal in Brazil in 1965 and served as assistant curator for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's exhibition, Art and Technology. He also curated and prepared exhibitions for the Pomona College Art Gallery; Corcoran Gallery of Art; University of California, Irvine, Art Gallery; Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art; Otis Art Institute Art Gallery; Santa Monica Arts Commission and Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. Glicksman exhibited the work of numerous contemporary artists, and curated multiple exhibitions of Chicano art and assemblage art in California. In 1981 he founded his own gallery, Percept, with a focus on space and light art, and served as the founding director of the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 1985.

Biographical/Historical note

Born in 1937 in Beverly Hills, California, Hal Glicksman curated a number of key exhibitions in Southern California during the 1960s and 1970s, and helped establish and foster several important Southern California art institutions. He started his career as a preparator at the Pasadena Art Museum under the leadership of Walter Hopps, where he helped formalize professional guidelines for preparators. While at the Pasadena Art Museum, Glicksman worked on the 1963 Marcel Duchamp retrospective. He also designed and installed the United States' presentation for the eighth Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Brazil in 1965. Glicksman served as Assistant Curator for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's exhibition, Art and Technology, 1967-1971.

In 1969 Glicksman was appointed Gallery Director and Assistant Professor at Pomona College. While there he produced a seminal Michael Asher exhibition, as well as exhibitions of work by other artists, including Tom Eatherton, Lloyd Hamrol and Ron Cooper. In 1970 Glicksman accepted a position as Associate Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., again under the leadership of Walter Hopps. Glicksman returned to California in 1972 as Director of the Art Gallery at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Among the significant group exhibitions he curated at UCI, Assemblage in California and Los Four demonstrate Glicksman's long-term interest in both Chicano art and assemblage art in California. While at UCI Glicksman also exhibited work by Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Larry Bell, Sol Lewitt, Eleanor Antin, Peter Alexander, John Baldessari and Jane Reynolds. In 1975 Glicksman organized the large-scale exhibition Collage and Assemblage at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Also in 1975, Glicksman was appointed Art Gallery Director at Otis Art Institute, where he curated exhibitions focusing on contemporary artists such as Dan Flavin, Richard Tuttle, On Kawara, Hap Tivey, Sam Francis and Wallace Berman. Following his tenure at Otis, Glicksman curated exhibitions for the Santa Monica Arts Commission and Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center.

Additionally, Glicksman made contributions to the design and planning of the new space for the Pasadena Art Museum at Carmelita Park. In 1981 he founded his own gallery, Percept, a short-lived venue for light and space art. The first show at Percept featured the work of Thomas Eatherton. Glicksman also played an important role in the 1985 founding of the Santa Monica Museum of Art, where he served as the museum's first director and helped establish the museum's collecting policy and development agenda.