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The Sum of Myself: Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection
BCAM, 2nd Level
October 25, 2009–January 3, 2010
Audrey and Sydney Irmas, along with their daughter, Deborah, began collecting photography in the mid-1970s and focusing on self-portraiture in the early 1980s. Through the highly personal vantage point of the self-portrait, their collection of nearly 160 works embodies every significant photographic innovation and movement. Their selection ranges from works by the very first photographers of the 1850s to those by leading contemporary artists, from the ornate set pieces of Victorian England to postmodernist appropriations of stereotypical identity. Many of the artists featured adopt a highly theatrical role in their self-portraiture, while others distort or obscure their physical appearance. The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection traverses this visually compelling and psychologically charged terrain, and LACMA's current presentation offers fresh perspectives on the genre.
The exhibition concludes with a new video installation by Los Angeles-based artist Natalie Bookchin. Her Testament, recently acquired by LACMA's Wallis Annenberg Photography Department, presents a contemporary response to the evolving nature of self-portraiture. Composing from existing video blogs, Bookchin creates wry, somber, and penetrating glimpses into online analysis and portrayal of the self. She reexamines the notion of virtual space and its freedoms as she explores the nuances and contradictions of the web's constant stream of self-revelation.
Robert Mapplethorpe, United States, 1946–1989, Self-Portrait, 1988, gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 in., The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection.
Art of the Pacific
Ahmanson Building, 1st Level
November 7, 2009–
In summer 2008 LACMA acquired one of the most significant private collections of the Art of the Pacific Islands to be assembled in the twentieth century. Representative of the wide range of arts from the Pacific regions and with historic provenance, the collection’s greatest strengths lie in the areas of Polynesia and Melanesia, and includes objects from Micronesia. The future display of these works will follow a variety of strategies. In this first exhibition, working with the Viennese artist Franz West, the museum has created geographical groupings following population migration patterns, west to east, in the general sequence of the settlement of the Pacific Islands.
Joseph Beuys: The Multiples
BCAM, 3rd Level
September 19, 2009–July 18, 2010
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) is perhaps the most influential postwar European artist; his sensibility challenged American domination of the art world in the 1950s and 60s with art that confronted recent German history. This exhibition features 572 of the artist's works from the collection of The Broad Art Foundation. At the heart of Beuys's practice was a particularly European form of multiples in which two- and three-dimensional objects are issued in editions. In myriad formats, Beuys’s multiples were intended to be widely circulated and cheap to acquire. Ranging from small-editioned objects to mass-produced political flyers and postcards, in materials as different as felt, wood, found objects like water bottles and tin cans, instruments, records, film, video, and audio tapes related to performances, these works, rich with allusions to his biography and personal iconography, provide a complete picture of his diverse oeuvre.
Korean Art Galleries
Hammer Building, 2nd (Plaza) Level
September 10, 2009–
LACMA’s collection of Korean art is recognized as the most comprehensive outside of Korea and Japan, despite a relatively short history of collecting. Representing work from the fifth through twentieth centuries, the installation features a hundred objects from the Three Kingdoms, Goryeo, and Joseon periods, including Buddhist and literati art, ceramics, lacquer, paintings, and sculpture. Many masterpieces from the museum’s collection will be on view, along with The Pensive Bodhisattva (late sixth century), a national treasure on loan from the National Museum of Korea that has rarely been exhibited outside of Korea.
Japanese Prints: Yoshitoshi's Demons
Pavilion for Japanese Art, West Wing
July 18, 2009–November 3, 2009
The two sets of prints on display in this installation represent one of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's earliest major sets, the One Hundred Ghost Tales of China and Japan, of 1865, and one of his last print sets, the New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts, begun in 1889, with the last three designs produced by students after Yoshitoshi's death. When one compares the two sets, much is revealed about Yoshitoshi's artistic development—his influence from Western art, his mastery of drawing, and the replacement of overt action with subtle tension.
The Art and Craft of Arthur and Lucia Mathews: Recent Gifts to LACMA
Art of the Americas Building, 3rd Level
June 13, 2009–December 6, 2009
Painters, designers, and civic reformers, Arthur and Lucia Mathews were leaders of the Arts and Crafts movement in Northern California. The couple met when Arthur Mathews was director of the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and Lucia a student there; they married in 1894. In response to the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco, the couple decided to devote their energies to civic reform and to making objects for use. With their friend John Zeile Jr., they opened the Furniture Shop. Most of the company's "artistic furniture" was in traditional revival styles. For friends, family, and special commissions, however, the Mathewses made spectacular carved and painted objects. These works reflect the Northern California landscape and depict the state as an unsullied, preindustrial Eden of vivid poppies and gently rolling hills.
The Early Work of Edward Kienholz
Ahmanson Building, 2nd (Plaza) Level
February 1, 2009–March 21, 2010
Long associated with the assemblage movement that distinguished Southern California art of the 1960s, Edward Kienholz created works that incorporate social and political commentary. Often shocking in their realism, these sculptures are scathing narratives that confront social hypocrisy.
Japanese Paintings: Twenty Years of Acquisitions
Pavilion for Japanese Art, East Wing
February 1, 2009–June, 2010
This installation of works from the permanent collection celebrates not only the twentieth anniversary of the Pavilion for Japanese Art, designed by Bruce Goff, but also highlights a number of outstanding recent acquisitions of paintings.
Painting with Gold: Tibetan Luxury Arts
Ahmanson Building, 4th Level
December 1, 2008–
Gold is highly valued in traditional Tibetan culture for religious and aesthetic reasons that transcend its mundane material cost. It is the primary element of a genre of Tibetan painting classified by background color. "Black-field" (nag thang) paintings feature gold line on a dark blue-black background. The black-field paintings were generally reserved for wrathful protective and meditation deities, and are distinctive for exhibiting a shimmering mystical appearance. "Red-field" (mar thang) paintings feature gold line on a vermilion background. Red-field paintings typically depict deities of power, authority, and longevity, as well as important religious personages. "Gold-field" (ser thang) paintings feature red and/or black line on a burnished gold background. Gold-field paintings emphasize wealth and opulence, and display a wide range of deities and religious leaders.
Coming Soon
A Tale of Two Persian Carpets: The Ardabil and Coronation Carpets
Art of the Americas Bldg, 2nd (Plaza) Level
November 14, 2009–January 18, 2010
Dating to the first half of the 16th century, LACMA's two spectacular Persian carpets, both the gift of J. Paul Getty, have only rarely been exhibited, due in part to their size and their sensitivity to light. Now, for the first time, these large and sumptuous carpets will be shown together, affording visitors the opportunity to see two of the world's most renowned Persian carpets and to learn something of their fascinating history before and after they left Iran.
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