L.A. Louver Announces Transition to New Model, Pivoting Focus to Private Consulting, Curatorial Engagement and Scholarship
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Today, L.A. Louver announces a significant transition for the gallery, which has been located on the same city block in Venice Beach since it was established by Founding Director Peter Goulds and Elizabeth Goulds in 1975. As of Fall 2025, the gallery will conclude its ongoing public exhibition program and shift to a new model that embraces private art dealing, artist support, consulting, and projects.
L.A. Louver’s evolution and next chapter is bolstered by plans to donate the gallery’s complete archive and library to The Huntington in San Marino, California. Encompassing correspondence, photography, publications, records, objects, graphics, and related ephemera, the L.A. Louver Archive & Library evidences the gallery’s engagement with artists, collectors, institutions and the global art world from its Southern California vantage point during the past half century. The extensive archive and library will be fully gifted by 2029 to The Huntington Library. Until that time, LA. Louver and Huntington archivists and librarians will collaborate to process and prepare the collection to facilitate its transfer, and optimize access and use.
Founded in 1919, The Huntington is a world-renowned cultural and educational institution that brings together distinguished library, art and botanical collections. The L.A. Louver Archive & Library will deepen this legacy, joining a constellation of holdings that chart the cultural, literary and artistic life of Southern California. The gift amplifies The Huntington Library’s deep holdings for California and Anglo-American cultural history such as the archives of writers Eve Babitz and Will Alexander and the papers of British novelist Christopher Isherwood and drawings by his partner, Los Angeles artist Don Bachardy. It strengthens collections that document the region’s artistic and business history in the second half of the twentieth century, from the newly acquired archive of photographer Gusmano Cesaretti to the extensive records of Buff, Smith & Hensman and other architectural firms.
The Huntington’s Art Museum, renowned for its strength in British and American art, provides a resonant context for the L.A. Louver Archive & Library.
Documentation within the archive reflects Goulds’ long-standing relationship with David Hockney, a key figure in both British and Los Angeles art circles. The Huntington is home to Hockney’s Tree on Woldgate, 6 March (2006) and collaborations with such UK and L.A. artists as Raqib Shaw and Betye Saar make this new acquisition a natural extension of its collections and programs.
“Our collaboration with The Huntington allows us to give thanks to Los Angeles, where some of the world’s preeminent artists, scholars, and curators have called home,” said Peter Goulds, Founding Director of L.A. Louver.
“When I first visited L.A. in 1971, I observed that the extraordinary artists here were not visible from a global perspective. Liz and I started L.A. Louver with this understanding, which inspired the gallery’s mission – to show Southern California artists in an international context, and to introduce international artists to this region. For more than five decades, we have witnessed Southern California’s contributions to national and global arts and culture flourish in unprecedented ways, and we have been grateful for the opportunity to participate in this transformation.
“We believe The Huntington is the preeminent repository of cultural life in Southern California,” continued Goulds. “Because of its interdisciplinary and historical mission, we feel the institution’s stewardship of the L.A. Louver Archive & Library will aid in telling our and Los Angeles’ story for generations to come.”
"The L.A. Louver Archive & Library offers an unparalleled record of Southern California’s artistic and cultural life, interwoven with vital Anglo-American connections,” said Sandra Brooke Gordon, Avery Director of the Library at The Huntington. “This gift will enrich the Library’s holdings in literature, art, business, and cultural history, providing scholars with new insights into Los Angeles as a city of tremendous creativity. Peter and Liz Goulds’ vision and meticulous documentation make this collection both unique and transformative for understanding the broader cultural fabric of our region."
"The L.A. Louver Archive & Library captures the vital history of contemporary art in Los Angeles, documenting how artists and ideas here have resonated internationally," said Christina Nielsen, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum at The Huntington. "By preserving this record, The Huntington is not only strengthening the connection between our Art Museum and Library, but also ensuring that future generations can study the innovation and experimentation that have defined Southern California’s artistic landscape."
In the coming years, L.A. Louver will remain committed to experimentation and scholarly inquiry, while also embracing a more flexible business model focused on private dealing, consulting, research, and creative projects. Moving forward, the gallery and its Directors will continue to support a broad range of sales and curatorial activities, including developing institutional exhibitions with artists, estates and foundations, and managing major commissions of new work. Secondary market sales, specialized collections development, and advisory services will also be expanded areas of concentration for the gallery. The L.A. Louver Archive & Library will continue to provide research opportunities and resources for scholars, while also cultivating connections with other artist, foundation and academic archives and special collections.
Since 2012, L.A. Louver has developed a private warehouse facility in West Adams, and it is from this Jefferson Boulevard location where the gallery will increasingly center its activities. With eventual plans to close the North Venice Boulevard gallery space, select presentations of work will continue to be made at the Venice gallery, via private viewing by appointment, special project exhibitions and programming.
This announcement comes as L.A. Louver celebrates 50 years of operation, during which time the gallery has exhibited the work of over 430 artists, mounting more than 660 exhibitions and helping to organize over 125 museum shows. L.A. Louver has long been recognized for its role as being among the first cultural organizations to build dialogue between Southern California and the global art world, having represented local and international artists such as David Hockney, Edward Kienholz and Nancy Reddin Kienholz, R. B. Kitaj, Leon Kossoff, Gajin Fujita, and Alison Saar, among many others.
Beyond primary artist representation, L.A. Louver also innovated the gallery model throughout the years. These efforts included project exhibitions with Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett, Jasper Johns, and Kate Steinitz, as well as celebrated experimental group shows that combined American and international artists in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s like This Knot of Life, The British Picture, California: A Sense of Individualism, American / European, Poem Makers and Painting Language, along with the Rogue Wave program of emerging and underrecognized artist exhibitions the gallery launched in the 2000s.