Christopher Knight Walter Hopps [1932-2005] Curator Brought Fame to Postwar L.A. Artists, Los Angeles Times, 22/3/05, pp. A1, A19
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In 1957, Walter Hopps (he) and artist Ed Kienholz, who would become an important figure in the development of assemblage art on the West Coast, opened Ferus Gallery. Ferus, the first professional space in L.A. to be principally devoted to the Southern California avant-garde, rapidly became the most adventurous and influential contemporary art gallery west of Manhatten.
In addition to showing the work of established Abstract Expressionistic painters, Ferus introduced young L.A. artists to the growing scene, including Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Craig Kauffman and Robert Irwin. Moses had his first exhibition at Ferus while still a student at UCLA. Hopps once told The Times that the name Ferus-Latin for "uncivilized" or "wild"-was "borrowed from an anthropological description of an aboriginal tribe with subhuman, irascible, possibly dangerous tendencies."
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