About Richard A. Hertz
Richard Alan Hertz is an esteemed author, educator, and art collector with a profound influence on the Los Angeles art scene. He has authored several books, including Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia, a definitive account of the influential artists emerging from California Institute of the Arts, as well as MegaHertz: The Hertz Family in Exile, a deeply personal exploration of his family's history. His scholarly contributions include three widely respected anthologies on contemporary art, most notably Theories of Contemporary Art, and Pamela Burton Landscapes, a tribute to his wife’s celebrated landscape architecture practice. In addition, he has ventured into fiction, penning two erotic novels, including Ozuma in L.A.
As avid collectors, Richard and his wife, landscape architect Pamela Burton, have assembled an impressive collection of contemporary Los Angeles art, focusing on works by close friends and colleagues such as John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, James Hayward, Astrid Preston, Lita Albuquerque, and Ali Acerol. Their patronage and engagement with the art world reflect their deep appreciation for creative expression and innovation.
Richard’s lineage is distinguished. His father, a German-Jewish diplomat, was a member of the pre-war German Foreign Service and later became the first post-World War II German Consul in Los Angeles before serving as the German Ambassador to Korea and Mexico. Richard is also a direct descendant of Heinrich Hertz, the physicist who first demonstrated the existence of electromagnetic waves, and a relative of Gustav Hertz, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist. His parents fled Germany in 1937, settling first in Iowa before moving to California in 1947.
Richard pursued his academic career with rigor, earning a Ph.D. in analytic philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. He later taught at Caltech and CalArts before, in 1979, becoming the Chair of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Graduate Studies at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. There, he was instrumental in establishing the graduate programs in fine art and digital media, shaping generations of artists and thinkers.
From his first marriage to Diane Caughey, Richard has a daughter, Melissa Hertz, and two grandchildren. With Pamela Burton, he has two children, Julia de Roulet and Nicholas Thomas Hertz, and six grandchildren.
Richard and Pamela divide their time between their citrus ranch in Ojai, California, their home in Santa Monica, and a retreat in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Passionate travelers, they frequently explore South America, Asia, and Europe.
Known for their sharp wit, humor, generosity, and love of life, Richard and Pamela continue to inspire those around them, leaving an indelible mark on the worlds of art, academia, and beyond.
books
Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia
A definitive account of the influential artists emerging from California Institute of the Arts.
MegaHertz: The Hertz Family in Exile
A deeply personal exploration of his family's history.
Theories of Contemporary Art
A widely respected anthology on contemporary art.
Twentieth Century Art Theory: Urbanism, Politics, and Mass Culture
By Richard Hertz and Norman M. Klein
This overview of modern art theory and history treats modern art as a cultural, political, and social process intimately connected with larger cultural, political, and social context.
The Beat and the Buzz: Inside the L.A. Art World
One-third a history of the Los Angeles art world since 1970, one-third about the psycho-dynamics of how people make it, or don't, and one-third art world gossip and stories.
Ozuma in L.A.
An open-ended meandering through the mind of Ozuma, a Japanese born graphic designer living in Los Angeles.
Desiring Machines
Desiring Machines is a series of exotic, erratic, erotic stories about the L.A. art world.
Ali Acerol: Three-Story Man in a One-Story Town
The autobiography of sculptor, painter, and poet Ali Acerol (1948 – 2007).
Zeitmasse: The Mexican Countess
A free associational, aboriginal, interior Mexican dreamland with no north, no south, no beginning or end, no before or after, no here nor there.