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Modern Galleries Reopen to Critical Acclaim
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Pablo Picasso
Head of a Woman, 1906 |
The renovated plaza galleries of the Ahmanson Building have reopened, featuring 22,000 square feet of gallery space dedicated to LACMA's permanent collection of twentieth-century art.
Part of the reinstallation includes a fractional and promised gift of modern art from the Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection, featuring a wealth of works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, Giacometti, Brancusi, and many others.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times on January 12, Christopher Knight called the galleries' debut "a smashing new installation," praising both the "expansive, handsomely designed galleries" and "the extraordinarily munificent gift" of the Lazarof Collection.
Announced in December, the gift of 130 paintings, sculptures, and drawings—including twenty works by Picasso alone—virtually transforms the museum's collection of twentieth-century art.
“We are deeply grateful to Janice and Henri Lazarof for bringing this collection to LACMA,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, prior to the reopening. “At a time when the art market has made it nearly impossible for museums to purchase works of this quality, this important acquisition brings to the people of Los Angeles works by key figures that define the modern century.”
Mr. Lazarof, a well-known composer, was on the faculty of UCLA for many years. In making the gift to the museum, Mrs. Lazarof explains, “Having been residents of Los Angeles for most of our lives, we decided the Los Angeles County Museum of Art should become the permanent home for our Collection. Gathering this art has been an exhilarating and meaningful experience for us. We hope the many visitors that view the Collection in our Gallery will share the same experience.”
Stephanie Barron, the museum’s senior curator of modern art, who has worked for several years to bring the Lazarof collection to the museum, commented, “This is a collection that has been built carefully and painstakingly over several decades. Having these works available at LACMA will forever change how future generations of visitors will understand modern art in Los Angeles."
Picasso, Pablo (Spain, 1881-1973, active France)
Head of a Woman, 1906
Oil on canvas, 34.92 x 21.59 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof
© 2007 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photo © 2007 Museum Associates/LACMA
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Reinstallation of the modern collection
January 13, 2008
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