Talk of a new building for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art goes back at least 25 years, when Rem Koolhaas OMA presented a plan proposing to demolish the entire William Pereira campus in 1965 and replace it with a single tent-like structure. That never happened, but Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor’s idea of an ink drop, or black rose as it was also called, did. Controversy erupted from the start, with critics slamming the estimated $724 million cost, including $125 million in public money, for a plan that the Los Angeles Times compared to a small-city airport. Not to mention, at 110,000 square feet, it was about 10,000 square feet smaller than the original building, prompting the same newspaper to call it a “stunning shrinking museum.”
Like it or not, the new David Geffen Gallery, a single-story soaring building that stretches like an amoeba across Wilshire Boulevard, is an overall good addition to the city landscape and a must-see for art lovers. Cyprus’ spaces, varying in size, make way for panoramic views of the city through venetian blinds designed by textile designer Rico Sudo, which protect the artwork from harmful rays but often let in reflective glare. Home to the permanent collection, nearly 155,000 objects spanning 6,000 years, of which about 2 to 3 percent are on display, the floor plan and organizational layout represent a stark departure from what most museum-goers are accustomed to.
The mini-catalog accompanying the new pavilion is called “Wander,” and that’s exactly what visitors should do. You can go from a gallery of Japanese netsuke sculptures to a gallery of textiles from the Andes, or from an aerial photograph of the ocean by Andreas Gursky to ancient Indian art from Mathura. It’s a radical idea that some may find refreshing and others disturbing.
“Diversity is one element of how we create a historical collection that relates to living culture,” Michael Govan, LACMA’s chief executive, tells Observer. “We are comfortable with diversity-producing chaos, we acknowledge the power of not having hierarchies, and we promote that Los Angeles is strong, that it is diverse.” There are 80 small presentations across the galleries, and “there is no one path through the museum, no one story about our history. There are no hierarchies. That’s the key.”
Although the new building’s floor plan aims to put different cultures on equal footing, foot traffic through any space tends to create its own pattern. When I was there, most of it stayed around the central galleries or drifted west into the Beverly Hills landscape where the Matisse mosaics, No, Gerbieis given a prominent seat. Those who ventured east tended to stay on the west side of the building, staying on the campus outside and Wilshire Boulevard below. Here is a newly acquired triple pendant, Three Studies by Lucian Freud By Francis Bacon, who has already emerged as the star of the new pavilion.
“The idea is to create a meaningful context through the idea of migration and interconnectedness, which is the opposite of the 19th-century model of categories, separation, and the organization of time and space by a Cartesian grid. “Peter (Zumthor) tried to design a museum that was very balanced,” says Govan, explaining the flow of space in a dualistic style. “Peter (Zumthor) tried to design a museum that was very balanced,” he says. I believe that if one direction were to gain significant privileges, we would probably change the art, and give a better direction to balance it. Democracy is a strange thing; All things being equal. This is self-diversified.”
What is no different in person is the public art that faces the museum. Chris Borden Urban light It retains its old location separating the courtyard from the street, while the new addition one block east and across Wilshire Boulevard is the Jeff Koons Building Split rocker. Tony Smith smoking It has barely moved from its old location, but is now outside next to the stairs leading to the new gallery. The new sculpture garden facing the building features bronze works by Auguste Rodin, and in the fountain next to the courtyard is one of the museum’s first works, a work by Alexander Calder Three Quintins (Hello Girls)which has been lovingly restored. Behind Resnik’s wing is Michael Heizer Raised block It still stands where it was installed in 2012. The museum’s architects include Renzo Piano, Peter Zumthor, and Bruce Goff, whose Japan Pavilion is being highlighted like never before. The buildings that make up the campus are named Resnick, Geffen, and Broad. Every artist, donor, and architect named here is a white man, including Michael Govan.
To be fair, Yoshitomo Nara Miss Jungle occupied a space adjacent to Urban light Since 2020, since 2012 Ai Weiwei Circle of animals/heads of the zodiac Visitors were greeted by the elevator leading to the parking garage. New additions to the campus include Mariana Castillo Debal Feather changes In the courtyard under the new pavilion, as well as the composed face of Pedro Reyes, HillsOpposite the elevators on the ground floor.
LACMA in the twenty-first century has long distinguished itself from East Coast and European museums by deemphasizing the Western canon and turning its sights to the Americas, the Far East, and the peoples of the oceans. But Western art routinely attracts the highest prices at auction, which often influences which artworks major museums choose to acquire for their permanent collection. In this way, the public is educated about the art that is most important and then seeks it out. Overall, Impressionist and Renaissance art remains a big draw, especially for the majority of museum-goers over the age of 60. Generation
Unfortunately, LACMA’s equality gesture is really only aspirational. Achieving such goals would require a shift in institutional collecting as well as art market prices that favor Western artists, both of which are beyond LACMA’s control. Although change is happening in the art world, it is occurring at a gradual rate that will take decades to occur. The concepts embodied by the new Geffen Pavilion, whether practical or not, are part of this transformation and should be considered a bold step in the right direction.
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