Pop-up exhibition in West Los Angeles features Len Steckler’s rarely seen ‘60s-era fashion photos
More than two dozen strikingly beautiful — and previously unpublished — fashion photographs taken by Len Steckler in the mid-1960s will be on public display for the first time at a pop-up exhibition in West Los Angeles from Thursday through Saturday before moving on to Palm Springs.
Steckler, who died in 2016, was an accomplished director and cinematographer best known for his work on the 1974 children’s television special “Free to Be … You and Me,” (and less-known for his work on the Joe Namath Beautymist pantyhose commercial) who also worked as a painter, illustrator and photographer.
It was in the last of those categories that he made a name for himself in the ’60s and ’70s, shooting beauty campaigns for the likes of Revlon and CoverGirl, with his fashion photography appearing in magazines like Redbook, McCall’s, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Now 28 fashion-focused photos, taken between 1960 and 1965, will be making their public debut in an exhibition titled “Len Steckler: Reflections of the Man Behind the Mirror” that will pop up — for two full days only — at TheMattress Art Gallery, 10545 West Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. The free exhibition kicks off Thursday with an evening premiere party from 6 to 9 and will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Numbered, limited-edition prints (each with an estate signature on the verso) will be available for purchase exclusively online at www.limitedruns.com.
After that, the photos head to the Palm Springs Convention Center where they’ll be on display as part of the Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale, Feb. 18 to 20.
For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me at @ARTschorn.
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