75 Years: Art Finds a Home at Forest Lawn

The Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection opened in 1951 and Forest Lawn Museum opened the following year. Held in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the two institutions, this exhibition features never-before-exhibited photographs from the museum’s archive, newly discovered and remastered audio of the original Hall of the Crucifixion program, and beloved artworks, some of which have not been displayed for nearly a decade.

 

The exhibition explores the evolution of Forest Lawn Museum, including the birth of the sculpture collection in the 1920s, art galleries in the Great Mausoleum from the 1940s, and the museum’s humble beginning as a memento shop. The exhibition also highlights the lesser-known figures who helped establish and develop the museum into what it is today.

 

 

Unknown photographer, Mary Hunt, First Director of the Forest Lawn Museum, 1952. Archival pigment print. Collection of Forest Lawn Museum.