The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) has had a busy few days, hosting its annual Collectors Committee Weekend, a fundraiser that brings in significant gifts of art and money. This year’s edition, the event's 38th iteration, brought in nearly $3m and resulted in ten new acquisitions for the museum’s permanent collection, including a 16th-century devotional object from Mexico, a Parisian street scene by the Impressionist painter Jean Béraud and preparatory drawings for a 1984 mural by Judith Baca—who is currently working with a team to create new mural sections at Lacma (until 21 July). In a first for the annual event, the museum’s collectors committee commissioned a new work as part of its acquisitions: the Los Angeles-based artist Todd Gray will create an approximately 27ft-wide piece chronicling the history of people of African descent travelling across the Atlantic.
Pax with the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, around 1575-78 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, photo © Museum Associates/Lacma
“The works Lacma acquired this weekend—and, notably, the first artwork commissioned by Lacma through the collectors committee—will expand and strengthen many different areas of the collection,” Lacma’s director and chief executive, Michael Govan, said in a statement. “Most are slated to be included in the first installation of the new David Geffen Galleries.” Those galleries, to be housed in a controversial, $750m building designed by the renowned architect Peter Zumthor that bridges Wilshire Boulevard, are expected to be completed by the end of 2024, though a potential opening date has not been set.
Left: Saeki Shunkō, Photo Studio (Shajō) aka Daughter (Musume), around 1937. Right: Manjunath Kamath, Vikatonarva, 2024 Shunkō: Photo © Museum Associates/Lacma. Kamath: © Manjunath Kamath, courtesy Gallery Espace Art Pvt. Ltd., photo © Museum Associates/Lacma
Other works acquired during the weekend’s festivities include a 12ft-tall terracotta sculpture by the Indian contemporary artist Manjunath Kamath, Vikatonarova (2024), which references characters and iconography from across genres, eras and regions, including Indian epic poetry, Ancient Greece and China. The museum also acquired an early painting by an artist who has been pushing the medium’s limits for decades: Nest (1971) by Suzanne Jackson, who is featured prominently in the current Whitney Biennial. In addition, the museum is acquiring a work by the Bahamian-born artist Tavares Strachan, who just had a major solo show at the Los Angeles branch of Marian Goodman Gallery.
Jean Béraud, A Parisian Street Scene: Boulevard des Capucines, around 1897-98 Photo © Museum Associates/Lacma
Among the more historical works joining Lacma’s collection are the playful painting A Parisian Street Scene: Boulevard des Capucines (around 1897-98) by the Impressionist Jean Béraud and Saeki Shunkō’s life-size portrait painting Photo Studio (Shajō) aka Daughter (Musume) (around 1937), which combines elements of traditional style with the starkly modern setting of a photography studio.
This year’s Collectors Committee Weekend at Lacma marked a slight uptick from last year, when the same event also generated ten acquisitions, and over $2m in gifts.