“A CRASH COURSE IN POSTWAR L.A. ART” ON THE EDGE BRINGS QUINN COLLECTION TO ARMENIAN MUSEUM FEATURED EXHIBITION
ON THE EDGE: LOS ANGELES ART 1970S-1990S FROM THE JOAN AND JACK QUINN FAMILY COLLECTION DISCOVERING TAKOUHI: PORTRAITS OF JOAN AGAJANIAN QUINN ADELE AND HAIG DER MANUELIAN GALLERIES ARMENIAN MUSEUM OF AMERICA 65 MAIN STREET WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH NOVEMBER 30
The rollicking energy of “On The Edge,” an exhibition
“I’ve changed over the years. The artists are very
of mostly Southern California artists of the 1970s
well known. Their voice can make a difference in the
through the ‘90s from the Jack and Joan Quinn Family
community. The community can know them and learn
Collection, is only rivaled by the exuberance of its
from them, and schools can come in.”
collector, Joan Agajanian Quinn.
Now in her 80s, Quinn finally gave in to the dogged
This vibrant art lover, in partnership with her
requests of curator Rachel McCullah Wainwright of
now-deceased husband, the prominent Los Angeles
the Bakersfield Museum of Art and agreed to share
attorney Jack Quinn, lived and entertained amongst
her art with the public. For the show’s first iteration
layers and layers of art, art objects and Armenian
in the Central Valley, Wainwright selected pieces
rugs they amassed over their 56 years of marriage.
from the Quinns’ home, the homes of their twin
Architectural critic Martin Filler called the collection,
daughters Amanda and Jennifer, and holdings at
on view through November at the Armenian Museum of
Jack Quinn’s former law firm, Arnold and Porter in
America in Watertown, Massachusetts, “a crash course
Los Angeles. To fit the Armenian Museum’s simpler
in post-war L.A. Art.”
quarters, the curator trimmed the Bakersfield show
Quinn said that people asked her if she would show
from 146 to 86 pieces.
the exhibition at their galleries and women’s clubs
A devoted booster as well as collector and journalist,
and community things. “And I said no,” she replied.
Quinn describes, in one video, her collection, her
“Because I thought it was so narcissistic to take your
family and her enthusiasm for art and artists in
collection and have people say, ‘Oh, look what you’ve
California, Armenia and around the world. Another
done, look what you’ve bought.’”
video presents her own photographs documenting
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Jim McHugh, Portrait of Joan and Jack, 1983, Innova archival pigment print, 25” x 40”. Photograph by Jim McHugh. OPPOSITE PAGE: Samvel Saghatelian, Untitled [portrait of Joan Agajanian Quinn], 2003, oil on canvas, 40” x 30”. Photograph by Ken Marchionmo.