GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS
Streisand, 3 others named to LACMA board
MySpace head Chris DeWolfe, journalist Willow Bay and investor Anthony N. Pritzker are also added to museum group
By Lynne Heffley
Times Staff Writer
7:01 PM PST, February 7, 2007
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has added four high-profile members to its board of trustees: actress and recording artist Barbra Streisand, MySpace Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe, journalist Willow Bay and investor Anthony N. Pritzker, the museum announced late today.Since 2000, 27 new trustees have joined the museum's board, bringing the total to 53. Other recent additions include author and producer Michael Crichton, philanthropist and technology entrepreneur David Bohnett and Terry Semel, chairman and chief executive of Yahoo Inc.
"This is a truly remarkable time to be part of LACMA. I am certain that our new trustees agree and will bring an added level of experience and engagement to the museum's transformation," board chairwoman Nancy Daly Riordan said in a statement.
Michael Govan, the museum's director, stated, "This new group of trustees will bring even more diversity of experience and community interests to the leadership of our continuing transformation of the museum."
Streisand, a supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes and a funder of the Clinton Climate Change Initiative, collected German Expressionist art by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Emil Nolde as a young art enthusiast, the museum said. More recently, she has acquired works by John Singer Sargent, Robert Henri, William McGregor Paxton and others. Two pieces from her collection, Edward Hopper's "Summer in the City" and Thomas Hart's "Haying," were on long-term display in LACMA's American Art galleries.
Pritzker is a co-founder of the Pritzker Group. Since September 2004, he has served as chairman of AmSafe Partners. DeWolfe is the co-founder of MySpace.com, the social networking Web venue.
Bay, who collects photography, is a freelance anchor and reporter for MSNBC and NBC News. She was anchor for CNN's "Moneyline News Hour" and co-anchored ABC's "Good Morning America Sunday."
The new trustees join the board amid a major effort to expand and upgrade the museum's facilities. A new building, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, funded by trustee Eli Broad, is under construction, and
plans call for extensive renovation of existing buildings.
lynne.heffley@latimes.com