The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...
located on
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...
in the
Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the
La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...
(George C. Page Museum).
LACMA was founded in 1961, splitting from the
Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
. Four years later, it moved to the Wilshire Boulevard complex designed by
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his Futurist architecture#Post-modern futurism, futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamer ...
. The museum's wealth and collections grew in the 1980s, and it added several buildings beginning in that decade and continuing in subsequent decades.
LACMA is
the largest art museum in the western United States. It attracts nearly a million visitors annually. It holds more than 150,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present. In addition to
art exhibits, the museum features film and concert series.
History
Early years
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was established as a museum in 1961. Prior to this, LACMA was part of the
Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...
, founded in 1910 in
Exposition Park near the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
.
Edward W. Carter helped orchestrate the fundraising effort for LACMA in response to
J. Paul Getty's increasing reluctance to donate any more artworks to Los Angeles County.
Getty had donated a few excellent artworks such as the
Ardabil Carpet and
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
's ''Portrait of Martin Looten'', but then became aware of their shabby and disorganized presentation in the county's aging multipurpose museum and chose to establish his
own art museum next to his house.
Howard F. Ahmanson, Sr.,
Anna Bing Arnold and
Bart Lytton
Bart Lytton (born Bernard Shulman, October 4, 1912 – June 29, 1969)was an American business executive, Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party fundraiser, writer, public relations executive and philanthropist. He was a founder of Lyt ...
were the first principal patrons of the new county art museum. Ahmanson made the lead donation of $2 million, convincing the museum board that sufficient funds could be raised to establish the new museum. In 1965 the museum moved to a new Wilshire Boulevard complex as an independent, art-focused institution, the largest new museum to be built in the United States after the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
.
William Pereira Buildings
The museum, built in a style similar to
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
and the
Los Angeles Music Center, consisted of three buildings: the Ahmanson Building, the Bing Center, and the
Lytton Gallery (renamed the Frances and
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...
Building in 1968). The board selected LA architect
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his Futurist architecture#Post-modern futurism, futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamer ...
over the directors' recommendation of
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...
for the buildings.
According to a 1965 ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' story, the total cost of the three buildings was $11.5 million.
[Doug Stevens (April 10, 2015)]
LACMA then, now and in the future
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. Construction began in 1963, and was undertaken by the
Del E. Webb Corporation. Construction was completed in early 1965. At the time, the
Los Angeles Music Center and LACMA were concurrent large civic projects which vied for attention and donors in Los Angeles. When the museum opened, the buildings were surrounded by reflecting pools, but they were filled in and covered over when tar from the adjacent La Brea Tar Pits began seeping in.
1980s
Money poured into LACMA during the boom years of the 1980s, a reportedly $209 million in private donations during director Earl Powell's tenure. To house its growing collections of modern and contemporary art and to provide more space for exhibitions, the museum hired the architectural firm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates to design its $35.3-million, 115,000-square-foot
Robert O. Anderson Building for 20th-century art, which opened in 1986 (renamed the Art of the Americas Building in 2007). In the far-reaching expansion, museum-goers henceforth entered through the new partially roofed central court, nearly an acre of space bounded by the museum's four buildings.
The museum's
Pavilion for Japanese Art, designed by maverick architect
Bruce Goff, opened in 1988, as did the
B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden of
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
s.
In 1999, the
Hancock Park Improvement Project was complete, and the LACMA-adjacent park (designed by landscape architect
Laurie Olin) was inaugurated with a free public celebration. The $10-million renovation replaced dead trees and bare earth with picnic facilities, walkways, viewing sites for the
La Brea tar pits
La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...
and a 150-seat red granite amphitheater designed by artist
Jackie Ferrara.
Also in 1994, LACMA purchased the adjacent
former May Company department store building, an impressive example of
streamline moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
architecture designed by
Albert C. Martin Sr. LACMA West increased the museum's size by 30 percent when the building opened in 1998.
Renzo Piano Buildings
In 2004 LACMA's board of trustees unanimously approved a plan for LACMA's transformation by architect
Rem Koolhaas, who had proposed razing all the current buildings and constructing an entirely new single, tent-topped structure,
estimated to cost $200 million to $300 million.
[Suzanne Muchnic (December 3, 2002)]
LACMA finds itself in two funding worlds
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. Kohlhaas edged out French architect
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel (; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of ''Mars 1976'' and ''Syndicat de l'Architecture'', France’s first labor union for architects. He has ob ...
, who would have added a major building while renovating the older facilities.
[ Suzanne Muchnic (December 6, 2001)]
L.A. Art Museum Decides to Radically Reshape Itself
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. The list of candidates had previously narrowed to five in May 2001: Koolhaas, Nouvel,
Steven Holl,
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect.
He is known for the design a ...
and
Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne (born January 19, 1944) is an American architect. He is based in Los Angeles. In 1972, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), where he is a trustee and the coordinator of the Design of Cities po ...
.
However, the project soon stalled after the museum failed to secure funding. In 2004 LACMA's board of trustees unanimously approved plans to transform the museum, led by architect
Renzo Piano. The planned transformation consisted of three phases.
Phase I started in 2004 and was completed in February 2008. The renovations required demolishing the parking structure on Ogden Avenue and with it LACMA-commissioned
graffiti art by street artists
Margaret Kilgallen
Margaret Leisha Kilgallen (October 28, 1967 – June 26, 2001) was a San Francisco Bay Area artist who combined graffiti art, painting, and installation art. Though a contemporary artist, her work showed a strong influence from folk art. She was ...
and
Barry McGee
Barry McGee (born 1966) is an American artist. He is known for graffiti art, and a pioneer of the Mission School art movement. McGee is known by his monikers: Twist, Ray Fong, Bernon Vernon, and P.Kin.
Life and education
Barry McGee was born in ...
. The entry pavilion is a key point in architect Renzo Piano's plan to unify LACMA's sprawling, often confusing layout of buildings. The BP Grand Entrance and the adjacent
Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) comprise the $191 million (originally $150 million) first phase of the three-part expansion and renovation campaign. BCAM is named for
Eli and Edy Broad, who gave $60 million to LACMA's campaign; Eli Broad also served on LACMA's board of directors. BCAM opened on February 16, 2008, adding of exhibition space to the museum. In 2010 the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion opened to the public, providing the largest purpose-built, naturally lit, open-plan museum space in the world.
The second phase was intended to turn the May building into new offices and galleries, designed by SPF Architects. As proposed, it would have had flexible gallery space, education space, administrative offices, a new restaurant, a gift shop and a bookstore, as well as study centers for the museum's departments of costume and textiles, photography and prints and drawings, and a roof sculpture garden with two works by
James Turrell
James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...
. However, construction of this phase was halted in November 2010.
[Rachel Lee Harris (November 25, 2010)]
Construction Has Halted at Los Angeles Museum
''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Phase two and three were never completed.
Zumthor Building
Specifics about the third phase, which initially was to involve renovations to older buildings, long remained undisclosed.
In November 2009, plans were made public that LACMA's director Michael Govan was working with Swiss architect and
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...
laureate
Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm and not being a prolific architect, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Pri ...
on plans for rebuilding the eastern section of the campus, the Perreira Buildings between the two new Renzo Piano buildings and the tar pits.
Architecture firm
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...
collaborated with Zumthor on the building's design.
[Carolina A. Miranda (September 17, 2020)]
What will LACMA's new building look like inside? Here are the long-awaited gallery plans
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. With an estimated cost of $650 million,
[Jori Finkel (June 24, 2014)]
A Contemporary Design Yields to the Demands of Prehistory
''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Zumthor's first proposal called for a horizontal building along
Wilshire Boulevard
Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...
. It would have been wrapped in glass on all sides and its main galleries lifted one floor into the air. The wide roof would have been covered with solar panels. In a later concession to concerns raised by its neighbor, the
Page Museum, LACMA had Zumthor alter the shape of his proposed building to stretch across Wilshire Boulevard and away from the
La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...
.
In June 2014, the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
History
On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...
approved $5 million for LACMA to continue its proposed plans to tear down the structures on the east end of its campus for a single museum building.
[Mike Boehm (June 25, 2014)]
Supervisor Molina starts new foundation to oversee Grand Park
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. Later that year, they approved in concept a plan that would provide public financing and $125 million toward the $600-million project.
On April 8, 2019, the Zumthor-designed building was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The final approved building designed was scaled back from the original to , with gallery space shrinking from to . The new proposal also dropped the black form aesthetics, reducing it to a one-level, aboveground, glass-enclosed, sand-colored concrete building, to save costs. The design still calls for an arm above Wilshire Boulevard.
Other than necessary mechanical systems and bathrooms, the building's entire second story will be devoted to gallery space.
Arranged in four broad clusters around the building, each one of the twenty-six core galleries is designed in the form of a square or a rectangle at various scales.
Other services, among them the museum's education department, shop and three restaurants, will be at ground level, as will a 300-seat theater in the section of the building on the southern side of Wilshire Boulevard.
The total cost was estimated to be at $650 million, with LA county providing $125 million in funds and the rest raised by fundraising. LACMA raised $560 million by 2019 and $700 million by 2022. The total estimate is now at $750 million by 2023.
[Deborah Vankin (13 October 2022)]
LACMA announces Zumthor building 50% complete; fundraising stands at $700 million
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
In 2020, four buildings on the campus were demolished to make way for a reconstructed facility. His design drew strong community opposition and was lambasted by architectural critics and museum curators, who objected to its reduced gallery space, poor design, and exorbitant costs.
The re-designed final building was criticized by some local architects, including the ''Los Angeles Times'' editorial architect
Christopher Knight, calling the plans "half baked". Antonio Pacheco called the plans an "affront to L.A.'s architectural and cultural heritage." Especially criticized was the plan's reduction in gallery space. The plans raised significant controversy from Angelenos as well, prompting a "Save LACMA" campaign.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
owns air rights above Wilshire, so the city council must give approval to the project, since part of the structure goes over the street.
Demolition of the Pereira buildings began in April 2020. The demolition was completed in October of that same year. By 2021, construction slowed with the discovery of on-site fossil finds.
In the meantime, the Zumthor building opening was pushed back to 2024, and eventually, 2026. , parts of the plaza around the Zumthor Building were expected to open in mid-2025, ahead of the project's official completion.
Partnerships
Watts Towers
In 2010 LACMA partnered with the
City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department in an effort to ensure the preservation of the
Watts Towers, offering its staff, expertise, and fundraising assistance. As of 2018, LACMA is working with Los Angeles County to develop a site at the Earvin "Magic" Johnson Park, which is close to Watts Towers.
[Deborah Vankin (July 3, 2018)]
At LACMA, new urgency to finish raising $650 million for the new museum building
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
South Los Angeles Wetlands Park site
In 2018, LACMA secured a 35-year lease on an 80,000-square-foot, city-owned former Metro maintenance and storage yard from 1911 in the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park area.
Las Vegas Museum of Art
In 2023, LACMA and the foundation of the philanthropist
Elaine Wynn announced their partnership to launch the
Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA).
[Gabriella Angeleti (23 December 2023)]
Will Las Vegas finally get an art museum? Collector Elaine Wynn and Lacma back new $150m institution
'' The Art Newspaper''. That same year, the Las Vegas council approved negotiations to dedicate a parcel of land for the proposed 90,000-square-foot, three-story building of the Las Vegas Museum of Art in
Symphony Park.
[Jessica Gelt (22 April 2024)]
Inside LACMA’s plans to share its collection with a new Las Vegas museum: ‘I’m a West Coast booster’
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
''Local Access''
With the support of a 2021 grant provided by
Art Bridges and the
Terra Foundation for American Art, LACMA launched a collaboration called Local Access, in which the museum shares portions of its collection with the
Lancaster Museum of Art and History,
Riverside Art Museum,
Vincent Price Art Museum at
East Los Angeles College, and
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...
, Art Galleries.
Exhibitions
In 1971, curator
Maurice Tuchman's revolutionary "Art and Technology" exhibit opened at LACMA after its debut at the
1970 World Exposition in Osaka, Japan. The museum staged its first exhibition by contemporary black artists later that year, featuring
Charles Wilbert White, Timothy Washington and
David Hammons, then little known. The museum's best-attended show ever was "
Treasures of Tutankhamun", which drew 1.2 million during four months in 1978. The 2005 "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" drew 937,613 during its 137-day run. A 1999 show of
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
masterpieces from
the artist's eponymous Amsterdam museum is the third most successful show, and a 1984 exhibition of French Impressionist works is fourth. In 1994, "Picasso and the Weeping Women: The Years of Marie-Therese Walter and Dora Maar" opened to rave reviews and large crowds, drawing more than 153,000 visitors.
Since the arrival of current director Michael Govan, about 80% of just over 100 featured temporary exhibitions have been of Modern or contemporary art while the permanent exhibitions feature work dating from antiquity, including pre-Columbian, Assyrian and Egyptian art through contemporary art.
More recent exhibits, focusing on popular culture and entertainment, have also been well-received, both by critics and patrons. Exhibits devoted to the works of movie-directors
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...
and
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
drew especially positive reactions and responses.
Collections
LACMA's more than 120,000 objects are divided among its numerous departments by region, media, and time period and are spread amongst the various museum buildings.
Modern and Contemporary Art
The Modern Art collection is displayed in the Ahmanson Building, which was renovated in 2008 to have a new entrance featuring a large staircase, conceived as a gathering place similar to Rome's
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps () in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top.
The monumental stairway of 135 steps is linked with the Trinit� ...
. Filling the atrium at the base of the staircase is Tony Smith's massive sculpture ''Smoke'' (1967).
The plaza level galleries also house African art and a gallery highlighting the Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies.
The modern collection on the plaza level displays works from 1900 to the 1970s, largely populated by the
Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. In December 2007, Janice and
Henri Lazarof gave LACMA 130 mostly modernist works estimated to be worth more than $100 million.
The collection includes 20 works by
Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, watercolors and paintings by
Paul Klee
Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...
and
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...
and a considerable number of sculptures by
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...
,
Constantin Brâncuși
Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...
,
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...
,
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...
,
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
,
Louise Nevelson
Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...
,
Archipenko, and
Arp.

The Contemporary Art collection is displayed in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), opened on February 16, 2008. BCAM's inaugural exhibition featured 176 works by 28 artists of postwar Modern art from the late 1950s to the present. All but 30 of the works initially displayed came from the collection of Eli and Edythe Broad (pronounced "brode").
Long-time trustee Robert Halff had already donated 53 works of contemporary art in 1994. Components of that gift included
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...
,
Jasper Johns,
Sam Francis,
Frank Stella
Frank Philip Stella (May 12, 1936 – May 4, 2024) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career befor ...
,
Lari Pittman,
Chris Burden
Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot (Burden), Shoot'' (1971) ...
,
Richard Serra,
John Chamberlain,
Matthew Barney
Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...
, and
Jeff Koons. It also provided LACMA with its first drawings by
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg (January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022) was a Swedish-born American sculptor best known for his public art installations, typically featuring large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions ...
and
Cy Twombly.
''Back Seat Dodge '38'' (1964), by
Edward Kienholz, is a sculpture portraying a couple engaged in sexual activity in the back seat of a truncated 1938 Dodge automobile chassis. The piece won Kienholz instant celebrity in 1966 when the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member Board of Supervisors, governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
History
On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Se ...
tried to ban the sculpture as pornographic and threatened to withhold financing from LACMA if it included the work in a Kienholz retrospective. A compromise was reached under which the sculpture's car door would remain closed and guarded, to be opened only on the request of a museum patron who was over 18, and only if no children were present in the gallery. The uproar led to more than 200 people lining up to see the work the day the show opened. Ever since, ''Back Seat Dodge '38'' has drawn crowds.
American and Latin American art
The Art of the Americas Building has American, Latin American, and pre-Columbian collections displayed on the second floor and temporary exhibition space on the first floor. Formerly known as the Anderson Building, the Art of the Americas Building comprises galleries for art from North, Central, and South America.
[Suzanne Muchnic (August 19, 2007)]
Spreading the riches
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
.''

From 1972 to 1976,
Donelson Hoopes served as Senior Curator of American Art.
LACMA's Latin American Art galleries reopened in July 2008 after several years renovation. The Latin American collection includes pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Modern, and contemporary works. Many recent additions to the collection were financed by sales of works from an 1,800 piece holding of 20th century Mexican art compiled by dealer-collectors
Bernard and Edith Lewin and given to the museum in 1997.
The
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...
galleries were redesigned by
Jorge Pardo, a Los Angeles artist who works in sculpture, design, and architecture.
Pardo's display cases are built from thick, stacked sheets of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), with spacing of equal thickness in between the 70-plus layers. The laser-cut organic forms undulate and swell out from the walls, sharply contrasting to the rectangular display cases found in most art museums.
The museum's pre-Columbian collection began in the 1980s with the first installment of a 570-piece gift from Southern California collector
Constance McCormick Fearing and the purchase of about 200 pieces from L.A. businessman
Proctor Stafford. The holdings recently jumped from about 1,800 to 2,500 objects with a gift of Colombian ceramics from
Camilla Chandler Frost, a LACMA trustee and the sister of
Otis Chandler
Otis Chandler (November 23, 1927 – February 27, 2006) was the publisher of the ''Los Angeles Times'' between 1960 and 1980, leading a large expansion of the newspaper and its ambitions. He was the fourth and final member of the Chandler fami ...
, former ''Los Angeles Times'' publisher, and
Stephen and Claudia Muñoz-Kramer of Atlanta, whose family built the collection.
A sizable portion of LACMA's pre-Columbian collection was excavated from burial chambers in Colima,
Nayarit
Nayarit, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...
and other regions around Jalisco in modern-day Mexico.
LACMA boasts one of the largest collections of
Latin American art
Latin American art is the combined artistic expression of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, as well as Latin Americans living in other regions.
The art has roots in the many different Indigenous peoples of the Americas, i ...
due to the generous donation of more than 2,000 works of art by
Bernard Lewin and his wife Edith Lewin in 1996. In 2007 the museum signed an agreement with the Fundación Cisneros for a loan of 25 colonial-style works, later extended until 2017.
The Spanish Colonial collection includes work from 17th and 18th century Mexican artists
Miguel Cabrera,
José de Ibarra,
José de Páez, and
Nicolás Rodriguez Juárez. The collection has galleries for
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
and
Rufino Tamayo. The Latin American contemporary gallery highlights works
Francis Alÿs.
Asian art

The Hammer Building houses the Chinese and Korean collections.
The Korean art collection began with the donation of a group of Korean ceramics in 1966 by
Bak Jeonghui, then president of the Republic of Korea, after a visit to the museum. LACMA today claims to have the most comprehensive holding outside of Korea and Japan. The
Pavilion for Japanese Art displays the Shin'enkan collection donated by Joe D. Price. In 1999 LACMA trustee Eric Lidow and his wife, Leza, donated 75 ancient Chinese works valued at a total of $3.5 million, including important bronze objects and prime examples of Buddhist sculpture.
LACMA also has a rich collection of relics from India, mostly consisting of sculptures of
Jain Tirthankaras, Buddha and Hindu deities. Many Paintings from India are also present in the LACMA.
Elephant with Riders LACMA M.85.72.1 (1 of 6).jpg, Elephant with Riders, Uttar Pradesh, India, 3rd-2nd century B.C.
File:Shrine with Four Jinas (Rishabhanatha (Adinatha)), Parshvanatha, Neminatha, and Mahavira) LACMA M.85.55 (1 of 4).jpg, Shrine with Four tirthankaras, 6th century
WLA lacma Jain Goddess Ambika.jpg, Goddess Ambika in Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 6th-7th century
A Jain Family Group LACMA M.77.49.jpg, A Jain Family Group, 6th century
File:Jina Mahavira (?) LACMA M.82.6.2.jpg, Jina Mahavira, circa 850 CE
WLA lacma Jain Altarpiece with Parshvanatha Mahavira and Neminatha.jpg, Jain Altarpiece with Parshvanatha, Mahavira and Neminatha, 10th century
Cosmic Form of the Hindu God Shiva (Sadashiva) LACMA AC1992.164.1.jpg, Cosmic Form of the Hindu God Shiva, Nepal, 11th-12th century
Dancing Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles LACMA M.86.126 (1 of 5).jpg, Dancing Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles, Nepal, 16th-17th century
A Relief with Mother Goddesses LACMA M.71.110.2.jpg, A Relief with Mother Goddesses, Bihar, India, 9th century
Buddha Shakyamuni or the Bodhisattva Maitreya LACMA M.75.4.3 (1 of 2).jpg, Buddha Shakyamuni or the Bodhisattva Maitreya, Nepal, 8th century
Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art
The second floor of the Ahmanson Building has Greek and Roman Art galleries. A large portion of the museum's ancient Greek and Roman art collection was donated by
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, the publishing magnate, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Islamic art
The museum's Islamic galleries include over 1700 works from ceramics and inlaid metalwork to enameled glass, carved stone and wood, and arts of the book from manuscript illumination to
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of penmanship and calligraphy, in the languages which use Arabic alphabet or the Arabic script#Additional letters used in other languages, alphabets derived from it. It is a highly stylized and struc ...
. The collection is especially strong in Persian and Turkish glazed pottery and tiles, glass, and arts of the book. The collection began in earnest in 1973 when the
Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection was gifted to the museum by philanthropist
Joan Palevsky.
Decorative arts and design
In 1990
Max Palevsky gave 32 pieces of
Arts and Crafts
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
furniture to LACMA; three years later, he added an additional 42 pieces to his gift. In 2000, he donated $2 million to LACMA for Arts and Crafts works. He supplied about a third of the 300 objects displayed in a 2004–05 LACMA exhibit, "The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America: 1880–1920" and in 2009, the museum presented "The Arts and Crafts Movement: Masterworks From the Max Palevsky and Jodie Evans Collection".
With a single acquisition in 2009, LACMA became a major center for the study and display of 18th- and 19th-century European clothing when it bought the holdings of dealers Martin Kamer of London and Wolfgang Ruf of Beckenried, Switzerland—about 250 outfits and 300 accessories created between 1700 and 1915, including men's three-piece suits, women's dresses, children's garb, and a vast array of shoes, hats, purses, shawls, fans, and undergarments.
Permanent art installations
Los Angeles sculptor
Robert Graham created the towering, bronze ''Retrospective Column'' (1981, cast in 1986) for the entrance of the Art of the Americas Building. A new contemporary sculpture garden was opened directly east of the museum's Wilshire Boulevard entrance in 1991, including large-scale outdoor sculptures by
Alice Aycock,
Ellsworth Kelly, Henry Moore, and others. The centerpiece of the garden is
Alexander Calder
Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...
's three-piece mobile ''Hello Girls'', commissioned by a women's museum-support group for the museum's opening in 1965. Situated in a curving reflecting pool, the mobile has brightly colored paddles that are moved by jets of water.
The Ahmanson Building's atrium was remodeled to hold
Tony Smith's ''Smoke'', which had not been displayed since its original 1967 presentation at Washington, D.C.'s
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...
. The massive black painted aluminum artwork is made up of 43 piers and is long, wide, and high. The newly fabricated work was initially on loan from the artist's estate, but in 2010, after several months of intense fundraising efforts, "the museum acquired the work for an undisclosed amount reported to exceed $3 million and
ith an insurance valuation of
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is i ...
'over $5 million. The purchase was "made possible by The Belldegrun Family's gift to LACMA in honor of Rebecka Belldegrun's birthday", per the museum.
Eli and Edythe Broad contributed $10 million to fund the purchase of
Richard Serra's ''Band'' sculpture, on display on the first floor of BCAM when the building opened.
Surrounding the BCAM building and LACMA's courtyard is a 100
palm tree
The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...
garden, designed by artist
Robert Irwin and landscape architect
Paul Comstock. Some of the 30 varieties of palms are in the ground, but most are in large wooden boxes above ground.
Directly in front of the new entrance to LACMA on Wilshire Boulevard, where Ogden Drive once bisected the 20-acre campus between Wilshire Boulevard and 6th Street, is
Chris Burden
Christopher Lee Burden (April 11, 1946 – May 10, 2015) was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including ''Shoot (Burden), Shoot'' (1971) ...
's ''
Urban Light'' (2008), an orderly, multi-tiered installation of 202 antique cast-iron
street lights from various cities in and around the Los Angeles area. The street lights are functional, turn on in the evening, and are powered by solar panels on the roof of the BP Grand Entrance.
Originally
Jeff Koons' ''Tulips'' (1995–2004) sculpture was inside the Grand Entrance building and
Charles Ray's ''Fire Truck'' (1993) was outside in the courtyard, both lent by the Broad Art Foundation. Both sculptures were removed after being on display for 3 months due to unexpected damage from patrons and wear.
On February 2, 2007, Michael Govan, with Koons, revealed plans for a -tall Koons sculpture featuring an operational 1940s
locomotive
A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
suspended from a
crane. The sculpture would be located at the entrance on Wilshire Boulevard, between the Ahmanson Building and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum. By 2011, after "the fundraising climate soured and Koons' California fabricator, Carlson & Co, went out of business after completing a $2.3-million feasibility study"
[Finkel, Jori]
"LACMA's Michael Govan on Jeff Koons' locomotive, James Turrell retrospective"
, ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' Culture Monster blog, May 16, 2011 1:27 pm. Retrieved 2011-07-10. and a $25 million estimated cost, Govan said "We don't have a final method of construction, and I don't have a final fundraising plan." Koons said they are now working with the German fabricator Arnold, outside of Frankfurt, to do an additional engineering study, and Govan says he has committed to spending half a million dollars for that study.
[ The museum has ''J.B. Turner Engine'' (1986), a small Koons piece which was shown in the 2006–2007 " Magritte and Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images" exhibition.
'' Levitated Mass'' by artist ]Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in term ...
is the latest project at LACMA. On December 8, 2011, this 340-ton boulder, wide and in height, was ready to leave its quarry in Riverside County, after months of postponements. It sits atop the 456-foot-long trench which allows people to walk under and around the massive rock. The move started on February 28, 2012, and completed on March 10, 2012. The art piece was opened on June 24, 2012, by Heizer, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Photography
The Wallis Annenberg Photography Department was launched in 1984 with a grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. It has holdings of more than fifteen thousand works that span the period from the medium's invention in 1839 to the present. Photography also is integrated into other departments. Although LACMA's photo collection encompasses the entire field, it has many gaps and is far smaller than that of the J. Paul Getty Museum. In 1992 Audrey and Sydney Irmas donated their entire photography collection, creating what is now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection of Artists' Self-Portraits, a large and highly specialized selection spanning 150 years. The couple donated the collection two years before a major exhibition of the collection was mounted at LACMA; the display included photos of and by artistic photographers ranging from chemist Alphonse Poitevin in 1853 to Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...
in 1988. Among other self-portraits in the collection were those of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
, Lee Friedlander, and Edward Steichen
Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...
. Audrey Irmas continues to buy for the collection, but now all the additions are gifts to LACMA. In 2008 LACMA announced that the Annenberg Foundation
The Annenberg Foundation is a foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations.
Overview
The Annenberg Foundation was established by Walter H. Annenberg in 1989 with $1.2 billion, one-third of the assets from the sale o ...
was making a $23 million gift for the acquisition of the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon collection of 19th- and 20th-century photographs. Among the 3,500 master prints are works by Steichen, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...
, Eugène Atget, Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham (; April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nude photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group f/64, known for its ...
, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Ave Pildas and Man Ray
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
. The gift also provided an endowment and capital to help build storage facilities for the museum's photographic holdings, leading to its photography department being renamed the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography. In 2011 LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Trust jointly acquired Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...
's art and archival material, including more than 2,000 works by the artist.
Film
LACMA's film program was founded by Phil Chamberlin in the late 1960s. In 2009 LACMA announced plans to cancel its 41-year-old film series, citing declining attendance and funding. The decision drew widespread criticism from cinephiles, including film director Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
, who wrote an open protest letter that was published in the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. In response, the museum expanded its movie offerings and partnered with Film Independent to launch a new series. In 2011 LACMA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
announced partnership plans to open a movie museum within three years in the former May Co. building. The Academy Museum opened in 2022.
Acquisitions and donors
Individual donors
In 2014, LACMA received a $500 million donation of art from businessman Jerry Perenchio. The 47-piece collection contains works by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, René Magritte, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Pablo Picasso. LACMA executive director Michael Govan said it was the biggest gift in the museum's history, and ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called it "conceivably one of the greatest art gifts ever, to any museum". Perenchio's donation, which becomes effective upon his death, occurs only if the museum completes construction of the new building designed by Peter Zumthor.
The $54 million Resnick Pavillon was made possible by a $45 million gift from the philanthropists for whom it is named. On March 6, 2007, BP announced a $25 million donation to name the entry pavilion under construction as part of LACMA's renovation campaign the "BP Grand Entrance". The $25 million gift matches Walt Disney Co.'s 1997 gift for Disney Hall as the biggest corporate donation to the arts in Southern California. Previously, in 2006, LACMA had announced that the new entrance would be called the " Lynda and Stewart Resnick Grand Entrance Pavilion", in honor of their $25 million gift.
On January 8, 2008, Eli Broad revealed plans to retain permanent control of his roughly 2,000 works of modern and contemporary art in the independent Broad Art Foundation, which loans works to museums, rather than giving the art away. Broad, as recently as a year prior, had said that he planned to give most of his holdings to one or several museums, one of which was assumed to be LACMA. However, LACMA remains the "preferred" museum to receive works from the foundation.
Broad, previously vice chairman of LACMA's board of directors, financed the $56-million Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) building at LACMA; he also provided an additional $10 million to buy two works of art to be displayed in it. BCAM displayed 220 pieces borrowed from Broad and his Broad Art Foundation when it opened in February 2008. In 2001 LACMA was criticized for hosting a major exhibition of Broad's collection without having secured a promised gift of the works, an act that is prohibited at many prominent art institutions because it can increase the market value of the collection.
In 2002 the Annenberg Foundation
The Annenberg Foundation is a foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations.
Overview
The Annenberg Foundation was established by Walter H. Annenberg in 1989 with $1.2 billion, one-third of the assets from the sale o ...
gave the museum $10 million to establish a special endowment fund to support exhibitions, art acquisitions and educational programs at the discretion of its director. In recognition of the gift, LACMA named its leadership position the Wallis Annenberg directorship. In 2001 Wallis Annenberg endowed a curatorial fellowship program with a $1-million gift. In 1991, the foundation contributed $10 million to LACMA's endowment and in 1999 it donated $100,000 to provide arts education training for Los Angeles elementary school teachers.
In 2001 the museum lost out on the modern art collection of Nathan and Marian Smooke, a former museum trustee and industrial real-estate developer whose heirs sold much of his collection at auction rather than donating it.
In 1996 the museum suffered yet another serious blow when the Gilbert Collection
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection is a collection of '' objets d'art'' formed by the English-born businessman Sir Arthur Gilbert, who made most of his fortune in the property business in California. After initially becoming interested ...
of Italian mosaics and other decorative objects, promised as an eventual bequest, and parts of which had been on display for decades, was withdrawn. The would-be donor claimed that the Museum had reneged on a written agreement to provide more exhibit space for it. The collection is considered one of the finest in the world of its kind. Moreover, unlike the Hammer and Simon collections, it did not remain in the Los Angeles area but was removed to the United Kingdom.
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...
was a LACMA board member for nearly seventeen years, beginning in 1968, and during this time continued to announce the museum would inherit his whole collection. Hammer's collection included works from Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
, John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...
, Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American Realism (visual arts), realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artist ...
, Gustave Moreau
Gustave Moreau (; 6 April 1826 – 18 April 1898) was a French artist and an important figure in the Symbolist movement. Jean Cassou called him "the Symbolist painter par excellence".Cassou, Jean. 1979. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Symbolism ...
, Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
, and Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...
. When LACMA was offered a collection of works by Honoré Daumier
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...
, Hammer bought the works on the promise that he would give them to the museum. To LACMA's surprise, Hammer instead founded the Hammer Museum
The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...
, built adjacent to Occidental's headquarters in Los Angeles.
Between 1972 and 2020, the Ahmanson Foundation spent about $130 million to finance the museum's acquisitions of 99 artworks, including masterpieces like '' Magdalene with the Smoking Flame'' by Georges de La Tour, others by Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
, Watteau and Bernini
Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor ...
, and a suite of 42 French oil sketches. The donations were not made with any contractual stipulations that the works remain on view.[Jori Finkel (February 25, 2020)]
Major LACMA Donor Suspends Longtime Acquisition Program
''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. In 2020, the foundation suspended the acquisition program.
In the early 1970s Norton Simon, the chairman of Norton Simon, Inc., which owned Avis Car Rental, Hunt's Foods, Max Factor Cosmetics, Canada Dry Corp., and McCall's Publishing, among other interests, agreed to take the financial responsibility of the troubled Pasadena Museum of Art. Norton Simon Museum
The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds.
Overview
The Norton Simon collections ...
He subsequently donated his extensive collection to the new entity, now the Norton Simon Museum of Art. He had earlier made some indication of donating the work to LACMA.
From 1946 to his death in 1951, William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
was LACMA's largest benefactor. He remains the largest donor to the museum in number of objects. His donations formed the museum's collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, medieval and early Renaissance sculptures, and much of the collection of European decorative arts.
Art councils
Over the course of the LACMA's history, ten art councils—each supporting a specific area of the collection—have acquired or helped acquire nearly 5,000 works of art for the museum. The art councils comprise groups of art enthusiasts and professionals who pay a minimum of $400 a year in dues and organize projects to raise money for a favorite department. Founded in 1952, the Art Museum Council is LACMA's first volunteer support council and supports the whole of the museum's endeavors. The Modern and Contemporary Art Council, founded in 1961, is the longest-running support group for contemporary art at any museum in the country. In 1980, the museum's then active Black Historical Advisory Group, led by former trustee Robert Wilson, drove the museum to acquire Extended Forms (1975) by one of America's foremost sculptors Richard Hunt. In 1986 the Annual Collectors Committee weekends were started and have raised a total of $16 million for the purchase of 157 works, valued at $75 million. The Photographic Arts Council, founded in 2001, is the youngest of ten 10 support groups, offering its members visits to artists' studios and private collections, curator-led tours of exhibitions and lectures about the care and conservation of photographs.
Collectors Committee
Each year a distinguished group of donors contributes directly to the enrichment of LACMA's permanent collection through participation in the Collectors Committee, creating a fund to spend on art through purchasing tickets ranging between $15,000 and $60,000[Deborah Vankin (April 27, 2014)]
LACMA curators lobby for new pieces at Collectors Committee event
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. for the event. Once a year, the Collectors Committee members meet at the museum to hear acquisition proposals from the various curators. Each curator has roughly five minutes to plead their case to the patrons, who vote later that day at a black-tie gala event at the museum on which artworks should become the next acquisitions for the permanent collection. The 2012 gala raised more than $2.8 million. Since its inception in 1986, the event has brought some 170 works of art into the museum's collection.
LACMA Art + Film Gala
Inaugurated in 2011, the annual Art + Film Gala dinner features entertainment by international artists and is designed to help the museum shore up support from Hollywood leaders. Gala prices range from $5,000 for an individual gold ticket to $100,000 for a platinum table. The 2022 gala raised more than $5.1 million for the museum's operations and collections,[Deborah Vankin (6 November 2022)]
At Art + Film gala, LACMA celebrates coming 'unstuck,' with new building 50% done
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. up from approximately $4.5 million in 2018,[Matthew Stromberg (November 4, 2018)]
LACMA's Art + Film Gala blurs boundaries between the museum world and Hollywood
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. $4.1 million in 2013 and just under $3 million in 2011.
Gala honorees have included Judy Baca and David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. Often described as one of the preeminent directors of his generation, David Fincher filmography, his films, of which most are psychological thrillers, have collectiv ...
in 2023; Helen Pashgian and Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook (; born 23 August 1963) is a Koreans, South Korean film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, and former film critic. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Cinema of South Korea, South Korean cinema a ...
in 2022; Betye Saar
Betye Irene Saar (born July 30, 1926) is an American artist known for her work in the medium of Assemblage (art), assemblage. Saar is a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker. Saar was a part of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, w ...
and Alfonso Cuaron in 2019; Catherine Opie and Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...
in 2018; Mark Bradford and George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
in 2017; Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Her accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 most i ...
and Robert Irwin in 2016; Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu (born 15 August 1963) is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama (film genre), psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include ''Amores perros ...
and James Turrell
James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...
in 2015; Barbara Kruger and Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
in 2014; Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
and David Hockney
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...
in 2013; the late Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
and Ed Ruscha in 2012; and Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...
and John Baldessari in 2011.
Deaccessioning
Along with other museums that have consigned works to auction in the past, LACMA has been sharply criticized for pruning its art holdings.[Suzanne Muchnic (November 4, 2005)]
LACMA art brings in $13 million
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''. In 2005, on the occasion of the expansion, reorganization and reinstallation of its collection in 2007, LACMA auctioned 43 works at Sotheby's
Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
. The works sold included paintings by Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...
, Camille Pissarro and Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...
, sculptures by Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, Drafter, draftsman and Printmaking, printmaker, who was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced ...
and Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...
, and works on paper by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
, Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
and Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...
. The biggest sale of works by the museum since the early 1980s, it was expected to fetch $10.4 million to $15.4 million; it eventually resulted in a total of $13 million. Among the most valuable was a Modigliani portrait of the Spanish landscape painter Manuel Humbert, which sold for $4.9 million.
Programs
In 1966 Maurice Tuchman, then curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, introduced the Art and Technology (A&T) program. Within the program, artists like Robert Irwin and James Turrell
James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...
were placed, for example, at the Garrett Corporation, to conduct research into perception. The program yielded an exhibition that ran at LACMA and traveled to Expo '70
The or Expo '70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, between 15 March and 13 September 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
in Osaka, Japan. It also contributed to the development of the Light and Space movement.
In 2014, the museum opened its Art + Tech Lab, building on the legacy of the original Art and Technology program and its associated 1971 exhibition. Since then, the Art + Tech Lab has presented an annual series of artists’ projects that engage with contemporary technology.
Management
Funding
Andrea Rich won praise for doubling the museum's endowment, to more than $100 million, and for increasing attendance and pursuing programs and acquisitions that might appeal to the varied segments of the city's diverse population, like Islamic, Latin American and Korean art. Rich resigned in part because of disputes with Eli Broad, including one over hiring a curator for the new Broad contemporary art center. In 2008, LACMA made a formal offer to merge with MOCA and to help that museum raise new money from donors.
Per the Los Angeles County Code and various operating agreements, Museum Associates, a nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
public benefit corporation organized under the laws of the state of California, manages, operates, and maintains the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2011, LACMA reported net assets (basically, a total of all the resources it has on its books, except the value of the art) of $300 million. That year, the museum's endowment grew from $99.6 million to $106.8 million. By issuing $383 million in tax-free construction bonds, the museum paid for its ongoing expansion and renovation, which has yielded the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum and the Resnick Exhibition Pavilion as well as other improvements. The Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
provides around $29 million a year, covering more than a third of the museum's operating expenses.
LACMA typically raises around $40 million from donations and membership dues, which are accounted for as gifts, paying for almost half of LACMA's average expenses of about $92 million.
Attendance
Although attendance has grown in recent years, it still remained at 914,356 visitors in 2010. In 2011, around 1.2 million visitors went to LACMA, making it the first time the museum broke the one million mark. In 2015, attendance reached 1.6 million.
Directors
*Richard (Ric) F. Brown – 1961 – 1966
*Kenneth Donahue 1966 – 1979
* Earl A. Powell III – 1980 – 1992
*Michael E. Shapiro – 1992 – 1993
*Between 1993 and 1995, Chief Deputy Director Ronald B. Bratton was handling financial and administrative activities and Stephanie Barron, chief curator of modern and contemporary art, was coordinating curatorial affairs.
* Graham W. J. Beal – 1996 – 1999
*Andrea L. Rich – 1999 – 2005
*Michael Govan – 2006–present
In 1996, LACMA's board of trustees decided that the traditional dual role of director as chief administrator/artistic director should be split, and appointed Andrea Rich as president and chief executive officer of the museum, while Graham W. J. Beal ran its artistic programs. As part of a 2005 restructuring, the president position was again made the second-ranking job in the institution.
LACMA provides a home to the director. For that purpose, it has owned a Hancock Park property since 2006. In 2020, Museum Associates acquired a house on a lot in Mid-Wilshire for $2.2 million.
Board of trustees
LACMA is governed by a board of trustees which sets policy and determines the museum's strategic direction. Board membership is one of the few concrete ways to measure philanthropy in the museum world. LACMA costs $100,000 to join; each board member commits to donating or raising at least another $100,000 a year for the nonprofit museum. The museum currently has over 50 active board members; 30 of them have joined since 2006. Since 2015, the board has been co-chaired by Elaine Wynn and Tony Ressler
Antony P. Ressler (born October 12, 1960) is an American businessman. He co-founded the private equity firms Apollo Global Management in 1990, and Ares Management in 1997. Ressler is also owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, acquiring them ...
.
Notable current trustees include the following:
* Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (since 2021)
* Nicole Avant (since 2014)[David Ng (June 16, 2014)]
Ryan Seacrest, Ann Ziff among new trustees at LACMA
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
* Willow Bay
Willow Bay (born Kristine Carlin Bay; December 28, 1963) is an American television journalist, editor, author, and former model. In 2017, she became dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism having earlier served as direc ...
[David Ng (29 March 2016)]
LACMA adds three trustees, strengthens entertainment industry ties
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
* Colleen Bell (2011–2014, since 2019)[Deborah Vankin (17 June 2019)]
LACMA board additions include Lucas Museum co-founder Mellody Hobson
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
* Thelma Golden (since 2016)
* Mellody Hobson (since 2019)
* Bobby Kotick (since 2004)[David Ng (17 April 2015)]
LACMA reframes its future with growing Hollywood ties
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
* Lee Boo-jin (since 2023)
* Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin (born July 13, 1946) is an American comedian and actor. He gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s with Tommy Chong, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dom ...
(since 2022)[Deborah Vankin (7 March 2023)]
LACMA says new building campaign funding is 98% complete, stands at $736 million
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
* Rich Paul (since 2022)
* Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...
(since 2021)
* Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager (born Carol Bayer on March 8, 1944) is an American lyricist, singer, songwriter, and painter.
Early life and career
Carole Bayer was born in New York City, to Anita Nathan Bayer and Eli Bayer. Her family was Jewish. She gradu ...
* Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...
(since 2014)
* Casey Wasserman (since 2004)
* Elaine Wynn (since 2011)
* Dasha Zhukova
Darya "Dasha" Alexandrovna Zhukova (; born 8 June 1981) is a Russian-American art collector, businesswoman, magazine editor, and socialite. She is the founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and ''Garage Magazine''.
Early life and edu ...
(since 2009)[David Ng (25 June 2009)]
Terry Semel, Brian Grazer get on board with LACMA
�''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
''.
Notable past trustees include:
* Donald Bren (from 1986)
* Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated for four Acad ...
(from 2009)
* Bryan Lourd (from 2011)
* Michael Lynton (since 2007)
* Lynda Resnick (from 1992)
* Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...
(2007–2014)
Notably, Tom Gores stepped down from his post as a board trustee in 2020, after advocacy groups Worth Rises and Color of Change had called for his removal over his investment in Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is a technology communications firm serving prisons across the United States. The company is a subsidiary of Aventiv Technologies. In the past, the company has faced criticism over phone call pricing, data security, monopoly ...
.[Nancy Kenney (October 10, 2020)]
Tom Gores steps down from Lacma board after pressure over prison telecom ties
'' The Art Newspaper''.
Selected paintings
Selected objects
File:Ashurnasirpal II and a Winged Deity LACMA 66.4.3 (2 of 2).jpg, ''Ashurnasirpal II and a Winged Deity'', Northern Iraq, Nimrud, gypseous alabaster, 9th century BC
File:Dog with Human Mask LACMA M.86.296.154.jpg, ''Dog with Human Mask'', Mexico, Colima, slip-painted ceramic sculpture, 200 BC–AD 500
File:Standing Warrior LACMA M.86.296.86 (1 of 2).jpg, ''Standing Warrior'', Mexico, Jalisco, Slip-painted ceramic sculpture, –AD 300
File:Funerary Sculpture of a Horse LACMA AC1997.137.1.jpg, ''Funerary Sculpture of a Horse'', China, Sichuan Province, Eastern Han dynasty, molded earthenware sculpture, 25–220
File:The Hindu God Vishnu LACMA M.76.19.jpg, ''Hindu God Vishnu'', Cambodia, Angkor, Pre Rup, sandstone, circa 950
File:WLA lacma Kannon Bosatsu.jpg, ''Kannon Bosatsu'', Japan, carved wood, 12th century
File:Jar (Ping) with Dragon and Clouds LACMA 53.74.jpg, ''Jar (Ping) with Dragon and Clouds'', China, Hebei or Henan Province, Yuan dynasty, Cizhou ware, 1279–1368
File:Cranes LACMA M.2011.106a-b (2 of 20).jpg, Maruyama Ōkyo, ''Cranes'', Japan, pair of six-panel screens; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, 1772
File:Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava) LACMA M.2008.66.6 (1 of 3).jpg, ''Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava)'', Easter Island (Rapa Nui), wood, bird bone, obsidian, and traces of pigment, circa 1830
File:Levitating mass at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (other view).jpg, Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in term ...
, '' Levitated Mass'', 2012
File:WLA lacma Hurd Silver teapot 1730.jpg, Silver teapot made by colonial silversmith Jacob Hurd, ca 1730
See also
* La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...
and George C. Page Paleontology Museum, next door to Los Angeles County Museum of Art
References
External links
*
LACMA's permanent collection
Access to more than 80,000 works of art from the museum's permanent collection. Via this website, the museum also enables users to download and use, without any restrictions, high quality images of nearly 20,000 works of art they deem to be in the public domain.
Virtual tour of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
provided by Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google.
It utilizes high-re ...
*
{{authority control
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum).
LACMA was founded in 1961 ...
Art museums and galleries in Los Angeles
Museums in Los Angeles
Museums of American art
Asian art museums in California
Contemporary art galleries in the United States
Modern art museums in the United States
Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles
Wilshire Boulevard
Egyptological collections in the United States
Museums of ancient Greece in the United States
Museums of ancient Rome in the United States
Museums of the ancient Near East in the United States
Mesoamerican art museums in the United States
Outdoor sculptures in Greater Los Angeles
Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in California
Landmarks in Los Angeles
Culture of Los Angeles
Art museums and galleries established in 1961
1961 establishments in California
Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums
Art museums and galleries established in 1965
1960s architecture in the United States
2000s architecture in the United States
William Pereira buildings
Renzo Piano buildings
Postmodern architecture in California
FRAME Museums