Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/929567
news NEAR THE TOP OF OLD TOLL ROAD (MARIPOSA) 1987, by Duncan Alanson Spencer. GALLERY 800 PRESENTS "THE GOLDEN BRUSH: A TRIBUTE TO DUNCAN ALANSON SPENCER" by Abra Brayman, Curator Duncan Alanson Spencer (1911-1999), the legendary Scenic Artist behind some of Hollywood's greatest films, will be honored by the Art Directors Guild Gallery 800 in a special exhibit entitled "The Golden Brush: A Tribute to Duncan Alanson Spencer." Spencer's career spanned over 38 years and over 400 movies, including The Wizard of Oz, White Christmas, Meet Me in St. Louis and Ziegfeld Follies. The exhibit runs from January 27 to April 7, at 5108 Lankershim Blvd. at the Historic Lankershim Arts Center in the heart of North Hollywood. Spencer is best known for his iconic motion picture Scenic Art direction. Like many other young professionals during that time, Spencer was mainly self-taught. His career in the film industry started in 1937 when he joined MGM Studios under Scenic Artist George Gibson, where he worked for over 38 years as one of the studio's premier Scenic Artists. Spencer eventually worked for all the great Hollywood scenic shops, including Twentieth Century Fox (working with John Coakley), Columbia Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and R.L. Grosh and Sons, painting scenery for both theater productions, films and the emerging television industry. In the 1960s, he teamed with Billy Wilder as Scenic Art Director on Irma La Douce, The Apartment, Witness for the Prosecution and The Fortune Cookie. In 1968, Spencer retired from studio work to pursue his other artistic passions.