Rear of Screen, Van Nuys Drive-In Theatre. Old US 101, Van Nuys, California

Former TitleVan Nuys Drive-In Theatre, Van Nuys, CA

Artist Jim Dow (American, born 1942)

Date1973

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 15 9/16 × 19 1/2 inches (39.52 × 49.53 cm)
Sheet: 20 1/16 × 23 15/16 inches (50.95 × 60.78 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2018.51.55

SignedSigned on sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: "© [signature]"

InscribedTitled, dated, and editioned on sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: "VAN NUYS DRIVE IN THEATER, VAN NUYS, CA. 1973. #2/25, 16x20, Printed 11/98 Palm Press"

Markingsnone

Edition/State/Proofed. 2/25

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of a sign for "Van Nuys Drive-In Theater". It depicts a man wearing a jacket, chaps, and a hat with pom poms lining the brim riding a bucking horse. In the background stand two women wearing long garments outside of a building with a row of arched openings.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

The Van Nuys Drive-In Theatre was one of several Pacific Theatre drive-ins featuring murals on their screens. This painting depicts a Californian vaquero (a Spanish-speaking cowboy) in a romanticized setting. It reflects the influence of the California Mission Revival style, popular between 1890 and the early 1900s. This architectural movement reinterpreted Spanish colonialism in nostalgic terms, ignoring the oppressive reality of colonization and celebrating that history as a “simpler” time.

Like the Yucca Drive-In, featured in another of Dow's photographs, this theater became a local icon. Quentin Tarantino featured the screen in his 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the character of Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, lives in a trailer beside it.

Provenance

The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2018;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.

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