Millard Sheets's 'Angel's Flight' Joins LACMA's New Galleries
LACMA is highlighting 50 iconic artworks for its new David Geffen Galleries, opening in 2026. One featured work is Millard Sheets's 1931 painting 'Angel's Flight,' depicting a Los Angeles funicular built in 1901. Sheets was inspired by George Bellows's 'Cliff Dwellers,' acquired in 1916 by LACMA's predecessor. 'Angel's Flight' was painted for the 1931 Carnegie International Exhibition and won a prize at the Los Angeles Museum in 1932, where it was purchased. The painting shows two women modeled after Sheets's wife Mary, overlooking Bunker Hill. It now hangs alongside Bellows's work in the new galleries.
Key facts
- LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries open to the public in 2026.
- Millard Sheets painted 'Angel's Flight' in 1931.
- The painting depicts the Angel's Flight funicular, built in 1901.
- Sheets was inspired by George Bellows's 'Cliff Dwellers,' acquired in 1916.
- 'Angel's Flight' was created for the 1931 Carnegie International Exhibition.
- The painting won a prize in 1932 at the Los Angeles Museum.
- Two women in the foreground are modeled after Sheets's wife Mary.
- The work is now on view in the David Geffen Galleries.
- Bellows's 'Cliff Dwellers' is also displayed in the same galleries.
Entities
Artists
- Millard Sheets
- George Bellows
- Mary Sheets
Institutions
- LACMA
- David Geffen Galleries
- Los Angeles County Museum of Science, History, and Art
- Carnegie International Exhibition
- Los Angeles Museum
Locations
- Los Angeles
- New York City
- Lower East Side
- Pittsburgh
- Bunker Hill
- Third Street
- Hill Street
- Olive Street