The Cool School

With the exception of a handful of gallery shows in California and New York, and a major 2006 retrospective, "Los Angeles 1955-1985," at the Pompidou Center in Paris, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the Los Angeles art scene of the 1950s -- evidence, perhaps, of the East Coast-centric art world's disbelief that any such scene could ever exist, let alone deserve notice. Emmy award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville's short history of the Ferus Gallery -- the tiny L.A. showplace that that until its 1966 closing was the flashpoint for a vibrant scene -- is a bit cursory, but it's thoughtful and thought-provoking place to start.

Neville begins with...