• Piety and Perversity: The Palms of Los Angeles

    Image by Stefano Galli

    Victoria Dailey, the author of “Piety and Perversity: The Palms of Los Angeles,” which was part of our recent collaboration with Flaunt Magazine, is giving a talk (the talk has the same title as the piece) today at UCLA.  Information on the talk is below.

    Piety and Perversity: The Palms of Los Angeles

    Thursday, January 15, 2015
    4:00 pm – 6:00 pm, William Andrews Clark Library – Facility

    Free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. Please be aware that space at the Clark is limited and that registration closes when capacity is reached. Confirmation will be sent via email.

    This illustrated lecture seeks to analyze, document, and interpret the history of palm trees in Los Angeles and how they came to dominate not only the landscape but also the cultural mythos. Although the palm tree is not native to the Los Angeles area, it has become accepted as a regional icon. More recognized than native sycamores, oaks, or willows, palms have become a visual synonym for Los Angeles. An explanation of this phenomenon and a suggestion about a new horticultural future for the city comprise the talk.   

    Victoria Dailey has been researching, publishing, and writing about art and culture since the 1970s. She is the author of numerous books and articles on art and artists, including Michael Heizer, Henri Riviére, William H. Johnson, Knud Merrild, Henrietta Shore, Frances Gearhart, Merle Armitage, Jake Zeitlin, and the German émigré authors in Los Angeles. She wrote the art section for the comprehensive book on early modernism in Southern California, L.A.’s Early Moderns, and has also written works on California travel posters and historic California children’s books. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and the New Yorker.