Autry National Center

Location/Dates:

Museum of the American West at Griffith Park
September 25, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Native son and photographer Harry Brant Chandler brings to the Autry National Center a set of compelling and evocative color portraits, personal insights, and biographies of fifty-four of the most accomplished and colorful men and women from the City of Angels in the new exhibition, Dreamers in Dream City. From immigrants to billionaires, unknowns to the world-famous, surfers to moviemakers, quacks to rocket scientists, dreamers are and have always been attracted to Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Those who live there know that Southern California has the potential to provide the opportunity to turn dreams into fantastic realities.

Chandler is a fifth-generation member of the Chandlers and Brants in Los Angeles, families whose dreams helped shaped the city—from the founding and running of the Los Angeles Times to numerous civic, business, and real estate endeavors. Chandler believes that the Los Angeles he knows so well is not a city of nostalgia but rather a dynamic, always-moving metropolis where the dreamers who made their mark years ago are still visible in our everyday lives. Chandler’s choice to colorize and customize the older photographs is based on his heartfelt notion that yesterday’s dreamers who have long since passed are as vibrant today as when their dreams were first born. As he merges past and present using the newest technologies, his artistic portrait photography proves that the impact of Dream City is timeless.