On view in “Life, Liberty, Los Angeles” at The Autry Museum of the American West

Artist Robert Ginder creates secular icons from the Southern California landscape in which he grew up. Here he focuses on the humble California bungalow —the  small, inexpensive, single family home exported to the nation as a symbol of the dreams and hopes of Americans. 

In the 1880s, L.A. promotors and urban planners embraced a vision of single-family homes as the symbol of the good life. This vision drew thousands of Americans to Los Angeles. The dream of the single-family home also created the blueprint for L.A.’s modern sprawl and created a pattern of residential discrimination across the city.