Brigitte Lacombe BRIGITTE LACOMBE, “JOAN DIDION, NEW YORK, 1996,” 1996. BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTOGRAPH. 16 BY 20 INCHES (40.6 BY 50.8 CM). COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND LACOMBE INC.
HAMMER MUSEUM’S JOAN DIDION: WHAT SHE MEANS ILLUSTRATES THE LIFE OF THE PROLIFIC AUTHOR LESS THAN ONE YEAR AFTER HER DEATH AT 87.
When Joan Didion passed away last year at age 87, she left behind an indelible impression through her celebrated works—novels (Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, The Year of Magical Thinking), screenplays she wrote with husband John Gregory Dunne (The Panic in Needle Park, A Star Is Born) and more.
Ana Mendieta Joan Didion: What She Means runs through Jan. 22 at the Hammer Museum. ANA MENDIETA, “UNTITLED”: SILUETA SERIES 1976/ 001, JULY 1976. COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS (EXHIBITION COPIES). NINE PHOTOGRAPHS, 16 ×BY20 IN. (40.6 ×BY50.8 CM) EACH. EDITION OF 10 WITH 3 AP. COURTESY OF THE ESTATE OF ANA MENDIETA COLLECTION LLC AND GALERIES LELONG & CO., NEW YORK. © 2022 THE ESTATE OF ANA MENDIETA COLLECTION LLC. COURTESY GALERIE LELONG & CO./LICENSED BY ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK
To honor that legacy, the Hammer Museum is presenting Joan Didion: What She Means, an exhibition organized by writer and curator Hilton Als—in collaboration with Hammer chief curator Connie Butler and curatorial assistant Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi. Organized in four chapters that follow Didion’s life in chronological order, the show contains a mix of Didion’s prose accompanied by more than 200 works by artists like Ed Ruscha, Betye Saar and more. “Processing Joan Didion’s life and works by following connective threads between words, art and objects was an affirming experience,” says Als, who was friendly with Didion and received her blessing to move forward with the show before her death. “It’s a real pleasure to observe a beloved writer and her works, noticing new details and appreciating again the genius of Joan.”
The exhibition includes pieces that represent different chapters of Didion’s life by Pat Stier PAT STEIR, “JULY WATERFALL,” 1991. OIL ON CANVAS. 102 1/4 BY 116 1/8 IN. (259.7 BY 295 CM). WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK. PROMISED GIFT OF ROBERT MILLER AND BETSY WITTENBORN MILLER
Born in Sacramento, Didion lived between California and New York. The first part of the exhibition—where a painting by Sacramento native Wayne Thiebaud of the Sacramento River sits alongside Didion’s words about the river—is a favorite of both Butler and Onyewuenyi. “I think we really captured something about California—its mythologies and its lived reality,” says Butler. “As it is in the writing of Didion.”
Andy Warhol ANDY WARHOL, “REEL 77 OF **** (FOUR STARS) (“SUNSET”)” 1967 (STILL). 16 MM FILM, COLOR AND WHITE, SOUND. 33 MIN. THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM, PITTSBURGH, PA, A MUSEUM OF CARNEGIE INSTITUTE © PAT STEIR. DIGITAL IMAGE © WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART/LICENSED BY SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NY
After attending college at UC Berkeley, Didion moved to New York, where she worked at Vogue and eventually published her first novel. This section of the exhibition shows copies of Vogue with Didion’s articles alongside works by members of the New York School of photographers including Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.
Included in the exhibition’s second chapter, “Goodbye to All That: New York (1956–1963)”, are these two paintings—by Helen Lundeberg HELEN LUNDEBERG, “STUDIO-AFTERNOON,” 1958-59. OIL ON CANVAS. 24 BY 30 IN. (61 BY 76.2 CM). LONG BEACH MUSEUM OF ART, GIFT OF JOSEPH H. MILES, 1972 © THE FEITELSON/LUNDEBERG ART
In the mid-’60s, Didion settled back in California with her husband, Dunne. “Their house on Franklin Avenue was a hub of the literary and Hollywood communities,” says Butler. “That Joan and John managed to write and realize six films between them is an achievement,” adds Onyewuenyi. An assemblage sculpture by Betye Saar, “View from the Palmist Window” (1966), is one part of a group of works that speak to the cultural mood at the time following the gruesome Manson murders and Altamont Speedway Free Festival in 1969.
John Koch—that visually represent Didion’s life and mood at the time. JOHN KOCH, “PORTRAIT OF DORA IN INTERIOR,” 1957. OIL ON LINEN. 14 BY 16 IN. (35.6 BY 40.6 CM). WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK. KATHERINE SCHMIDT SHUBERT BEQUEST. © JOHN KOCH (1909-1978). DIGITAL IMAGE © WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART/LICENSED BY SCALA/ART RESOURCE, NY
The last part of the exhibition reflects Didion’s final years in New York, where she ultimately lost her husband in 2003 and, tragically, her daughter Quintana Roo soon after. It was during this time that she wrote The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights. Ana Mendieta’s “Untitled” (from the Sileuta series) (1976) shows a body’s imprint in sand shifting in the waves in nine color chromogenic prints—a fitting visual account of what Didion may have been feeling at the time.
“Didion’s legacy is huge,” says Butler. “The outpouring of interest in this show is a testament to her reach and her influence.” hammer.ucla.edu
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