This week at LACMA has been one for the history books.
Let's start with today and work backwards. This morning, the museum officially announced a major gift of art from local philanthropist and businessman A. Jerrold Perenchio of at least 47 different works by Degas, Monet, Picasso, Manet, Pissarro, Bonard and more. This is the largest gift in LACMA's history, according to the museum, and a gift of this many Impressionist and Modernist pieces is very rare. The gift includes paintings, sculptures and works on paper from 1870-1930s, and it's intended for LACMA's new building—more on that below.
Highlights from the gift include:
- Three paintings by Monet, including Nymphéas (c. 1905), a water lilies painting (see below)
- LACMA's first painting by Manet, the portrait of M. Gauthier-Lathuille fils (1879)
- Three paintings by Camille Pissarro
- Au Café Concert: La Chanson du Chien (1875) by Edgar Degas
- An early Picasso drawing called Tête (Head of Fernande) (1909)
- Les Liaisons dangereuses (1935) by René Magritte
Some of the works will be on display at LACMA in spring. Perenchio said he hopes his gift will inspire other art collectors to follow his example.
Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $125 million bond to help the museum fund a massive makeover: a groundbreaking building by architect Peter Zumthor, a Pritzker Prize winner. The $600 million project (LACMA will raise the remaining $475 million privately) would transform the eastern part of LACMA's campus and it would also include a bridge over Wilshire that would connect the museum to the future Purple Line stop. If you've visited LACMA recently, you've probably noticed that the buildings on the east side of the campus are considerably older than other side, where the Resnick Pavilion and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum are (near the BP Grand Entrance and Urban Light). Those were part of LACMA's original campus and the cost to repair them and bring them up to code isn't that much less than the brand spanking new $600 million project, according to museum director Michael Govan's pitch to the board, the Los Angeles Times reported.
This is a huge vote of confidence in LACMA's future by a very powerful local government body (it was remarked upon earlier that a unanimous decision to spend $125 million on anything is a big deal for this board), and the county supervisors praised museum director Michael Govan handsomely. The ETA of this is 2023, by the way—a big part of Perenchio's gift is a nudge to make that deadline.
Over the weekend, LACMA's annual Art + Film Gala raised $3.85 million at a star-studded, swanky party. The night before, the museum threw its 11th annual Halloween Costume Ball and while millions weren't raised that night, it did draw out some impressively costumed guests. So, all in all, it was a pretty epic week.
Rock on, LACMA. Rock on.
