LACMA Receives Huge Art Donation

[BarTopDancer]

Story here

Janice and Henri Lazarof have given the museum 130 works by major artists, LACMA officials said this week. The gift includes 20 works by Pablo Picasso spanning 65 years, seven figurative sculptures and a painting by Alberto Giacometti, and two versions of Constantin Brancusi's signature bronze, "Bird in Space."

Snip

Among the Picassos are 17 portraits, such as a tiny Rose Period painting from 1906; twisted images of the artist's mistress Dora Maar from the 1930s; and a monumental likeness of his wife Jacqueline painted in the early 1960s. About two dozen works by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Lyonel Feininger represent the influential Bauhaus school in Germany. There are also Impressionist pieces by Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, but the gift is primarily a Modernist bonanza.

[Not Afraid]

It's a fantastic collection! I'm very happy LACMA is going to be the recipient of it. Their modern collection has needed a boost. I can't wait to see it - especially the Kandinskys and Klees!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Aweseome news for us modernist art lovers

[innerSpaceman]

I'm confused. How is this stuff from the late 1800's/early 1900's "Modern" art?

I love the pieces I saw in the paper today. Mmmm, Impressionistic goodness. And the switch from private hands to a major museum is wonderful.


But I guess I thought modern art had to date from, at furthest, the mid-20th Century. I would never have gone to LACMA expecting my favorite Impressionist period of art. The discovery that this particular museum houses this kind of art is a super boon to me!


Hooray!

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

But I guess I thought modern art had to date from, at furthest, the mid-20th Century.

You're thinking of Contemporary, or Post Modern, which is generally anything after 1970's. "Modern Art" is late 19th century-1970s-ish.

ETA: Wiki Knows All

[Kevy Baby]

Does that mean that Modern is old?

[NirvanaMan]

Contemporary is the new modern

[BarTopDancer]

Aren't we currently in a post modern era?

[Not Afraid]

"Contemporary" is the term used for art post WWII but within a historical context (ie: modern primitives, outsider artists, etc are excluded).

"Modern" generally starts with Impressionism with the key being that there was a break from realism towards abstraction. Those Impressionists were quite renegades in their day.

Post-Modernism (or PoMo) is more of a general term for architecture, literature and, sometimes art. It describes any social phenomenon that is a reaction to modernism. I think of it as a "bridge" term that will suffice until hindsight allows a better set of terminology to be assigned. Although, it may end up sticking at some point.

[€uroMeinke]

It seems terms that attempt to capture the "now" often become terms to describe the past - Art Nouveau, New Wave, Modernism, Futurism -the list goes on.