RENDERING HOMAGE: Portraits of a Patron

Exhibition Website

May 20 2016 - Aug 28 2016

Los Angeles art patron, collector, and arts advocate, Joan Agajanian Quinn, has been depicted in portraiture for over five decades by world-renowned artists at the forefront of their era, medium, and impact upon the contemporary art scene.

The exhibition RENDERING HOMAGE: Portraits of a Patron is a selection of artworks depicting her visage, created for her by artists she has championed over time. Approximately 50 two and three-dimensional pieces from Quinn’s collection of over 300 portraits tell the story of her passion for cutting edge American artists through their portrayals of her as their valkyrie. 


Bay Area painter Mel Ramos describes Joan as “a living work of art.” This exhibition serves to herald her in this light, in addition to revealing her treasured artist friendships and her instinctual certainty of their relevance to 20th and 21st century contemporary art history. This is an exhibition paying homage to an art patron, sincerely appreciated.

The exhibited portraits are realized in all mediums, spanning four decades of Quinn’s relationships with artists she has believed in and supported. The exhibition includes works by Peter Alexander, Charles Arnoldi, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Laddie John Dill, Claire Falkenstein, Sophia Gasparian, Frank Gehry, Robert Graham, David Hockney, George Hurrell, E.F. Kitchen, Marie Lalanne, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ed Moses, Mel Ramos, Zandra Rhodes, Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, and Beatrice Wood, among others.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website



  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Portrait
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat
  • David Hockney
  • Frank Gehry
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates