Information: The first column shows data points from Drinkwater, Harriet in red. The third column shows data points from Drinkwater, Harry, 1919-2014 in blue. Any data they share in common is displayed as purple boxes in the middle "Shared" column.
Harry W. Drinkwater was born in Bakersfield, California on March 28, 1919 and grew up in Yountville, in one of the area's only Black families. At around age 13 he left his family and headed south to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Venice, but returned to Yountville in 1938 to finish high school. He joined the service in 1942 and was stationed in Weymouth, England as part an all-Black unit of the communication corps. At the very end of his tour of duty a turn at the camera during the shooting of his company's group photograph provided his first encounter with the possibilities of photography.
After the war, Drinkwater returned to Bakersfield but eventually made his way to Los Angeles, where he worked odd jobs, before joining the Civilian Conservation Corps, working at the Mexico-United States border near Tecate. From 1947 to 1949, Drinkwater used the G. I. Bill to attend the Fred Archer School of Photography, which had been founded in part to train veterans. Archer, who worked early on in the pictorialist style, had also been a movie studio photographer and an early proponent of advertising photography. His curriculum, which prepared veterans for work in commercial photography, joined formal experimentation with Hollywood film-style portraiture.
Following his graduation from Archer, Drinkwater worked for the Black community-based newspapers The Eagle (1947 to 1949) and The Sentinel (1949 to 1955), and for Elegant: The Magazine for Fashionable Living in the 1960s. In the 1950s, he also worked for Kelsey Screens, manufacturers of shoji-type screens, before becoming the primary photographer (1958-1961) for the modernist landscape architect, Garret Eckbo, whose Kandinsky-esque garden designs were influential in the development of mid-century architectural design. Although Drinkwater's negatives, as work-for-hire, were retained by Eckbo, his photographs are featured in Eckbo's books Urban Landscape Design (1964) and The Landscape We See (1969).
From the time he first picked up a camera in the late 1940s Drinkwater never stopped photographing. His work, at times quite stylized, belongs to a mid-century scene that is linked to Los Angeles's jazz, Beatnik, and modernist movements. Drinkwater's subjects ranged from art and architecture, to interior and landscape design, and to popular culture. He documented the changing cultural landscapes of Venice and Los Angeles, photographing Black artists and their work, as well as aspects of the area's wider artistic and social circles.
Drinkwater photographed the work of contemporary Los Angeles designers including that of his close friend, John Smith, who created the interiors of John Lautner's Chemosphere house. For the landmark 1966 exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, the first large-scale artistic response to the 1965 Watts Riots, Drinkwater worked with artist Noah Purifoy to photograph works for its exhibition catalogue Junk Art: 66 Signs of Neon. He also documented the work of Los Angeles artists such as DeWain Valentine and Gordon Wagner.
Drinkwater lived in Venice, California for over six decades, where he was both a fixture and chronicler of the area's vibrant arts scene. He died in 2014 at the age of 95.
Finding Aid, Harry Drinkwater photographs documenting Los Angeles art and Architecture, viewed on July 23, 2021
<p>Harry W. Drinkwater was born in Bakersfield, California on March 28, 1919 and grew up in Yountville, in one of the area's only Black families. At around age 13 he left his family and headed south to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Venice, but returned to Yountville in 1938 to finish high school. He joined the service in 1942 and was stationed in Weymouth, England as part an all-Black unit of the communication corps. At the very end of his tour of duty a turn at the camera during the shooting of his company's group photograph provided his first encounter with the possibilities of photography.</p>
<p>After the war, Drinkwater returned to Bakersfield but eventually made his way to Los Angeles, where he worked odd jobs, before joining the Civilian Conservation Corps, working at the Mexico-United States border near Tecate. From 1947 to 1949, Drinkwater used the G. I. Bill to attend the Fred Archer School of Photography, which had been founded in part to train veterans. Archer, who worked early on in the pictorialist style, had also been a movie studio photographer and an early proponent of advertising photography. His curriculum, which prepared veterans for work in commercial photography, joined formal experimentation with Hollywood film-style portraiture.</p>
<p>Following his graduation from Archer, Drinkwater worked for the Black community-based newspapers The Eagle (1947 to 1949) and The Sentinel (1949 to 1955), and for Elegant: The Magazine for Fashionable Living in the 1960s. In the 1950s, he also worked for Kelsey Screens, manufacturers of shoji-type screens, before becoming the primary photographer (1958-1961) for the modernist landscape architect, Garret Eckbo, whose Kandinsky-esque garden designs were influential in the development of mid-century architectural design. Although Drinkwater's negatives, as work-for-hire, were retained by Eckbo, his photographs are featured in Eckbo's books Urban Landscape Design (1964) and The Landscape We See (1969).</p>
<p>From the time he first picked up a camera in the late 1940s Drinkwater never stopped photographing. His work, at times quite stylized, belongs to a mid-century scene that is linked to Los Angeles's jazz, Beatnik, and modernist movements. Drinkwater's subjects ranged from art and architecture, to interior and landscape design, and to popular culture. He documented the changing cultural landscapes of Venice and Los Angeles, photographing Black artists and their work, as well as aspects of the area's wider artistic and social circles.</p>
<p>Drinkwater photographed the work of contemporary Los Angeles designers including that of his close friend, John Smith, who created the interiors of John Lautner's Chemosphere house. For the landmark 1966 exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, the first large-scale artistic response to the 1965 Watts Riots, Drinkwater worked with artist Noah Purifoy to photograph works for its exhibition catalogue Junk Art: 66 Signs of Neon. He also documented the work of Los Angeles artists such as DeWain Valentine and Gordon Wagner.</p>
<p>Drinkwater lived in Venice, California for over six decades, where he was both a fixture and chronicler of the area's vibrant arts scene. He died in 2014 at the age of 95.</p>
<p>Sources consulted:</p>
<p>Aushenker, Michael. "Harry Drinkwater, 1919 – 2014," The Argonaut, December 1, 2014. https://argonautnews.com/harry-drinkwater-1919-2014/</p>
<p>Getty Research Institute. "Modern Art in Los Angeles: Harry Drinkwater Oral History Interview," 2010, The Getty Research Institute Modern Art in Los Angeles and Pacific Standard Time Recordings, 2003-, accession number IA40018.</p>
George P. Garrett Papers, 1929-2008 (bulk 1960-2000)
George P. Garrett Papers, 1929-2008, (bulk 1960-2000)
Title:
George P. Garrett Papers, 1929-2008 (bulk 1960-2000)
George P. Garrett (1929-2008) was a poet, editor, author, and professor of English. The papers of George P. Garrett span the years 1929 to 2000 with the bulk of the material being dated between 1960 and 1990. The papers were initially collected and assembled by author, bibliographer, and publisher Stuart T. Wright. Wright published a number of Garrett's works at his Palaemon Press and also assembled the Stuart Wright Bibliographic Collection of George Garrett (see related materials held by the Rubenstein Library). Additional materials were received by the Library directly from George Garrett. The papers document Garrett's literary career as an author of novels, short stories, poetry, and dramatic works (including filmscripts) and the tremendous influence he had as an English professor and an editor on an entire generation of writers, particularly in the South. Correspondence with numerous authors, publishers, and educators offers much information about the history of 20th-century Southern literature, publishing, and literary education. The collection is divided into the Writings Series (with subseries of Writings by Garrett, Writings Edited by Garrett, Writings by Others, and Proofs); the Correspondence Series (with 5 subseries of alphabetically and chronologically arranged correspondence); the Audiovisual Material Series; and the Miscellaneous Papers Series.
George P. Garrett Papers, 1929-2008, (bulk 1960-2000)
0
Drinkwater, Harry, 1919-2014
creatorOf
Modern Art in Los Angeles Harry Drinkwater oral history interview, 2010.
Title:
Modern Art in Los Angeles Harry Drinkwater oral history interview, 2010.
Material comprises video recordings of an oral history interview with Harry Drinkwater conducted by Yael Lipschutz and Marissa Kucheck in Santa Monica, California on June 28, 2010. The Getty Research Institute (GRI) hosted events and conducted oral histories inspired by the "Modern Art in Los Angeles" theme beginning in 2003. Beginning in 2012 much of the research and product generated by the GRI's Modern Art in Los Angeles activities became intertwined with the Getty's initiative, "Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A.," which focused on postwar art (1945-1980) in Los Angeles.
Harry Drinkwater photographs documenting Los Angeles art and Architecture
Title:
Harry Drinkwater photographs documenting Los Angeles art and Architecture
The collection of over 140 photographic prints and 1200 negatives represents a portion of the professional and personal output of Harry Drinkwater, a Venice, California-based Black photographer who documented Los Angeles's mid-century modern design movement as well as its wider artistic and social circles. Los Angeles-based Black artists, architects, and designers and their works feature prominently in the collection.
ArchivalResource:
9 Linear Feet (5 boxes and 1flatfile)
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