UCLA Broad Art Center opens! "LA is one of the great art capitals of the world"

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LA Times

Art Center College of Design builds toward the future

His new work space is a result of the well-regarded design school's expansion into a former industrial and commercial zone next to the northern terminus of the 110 Freeway and the mainly dormant cooling towers of power plants. It is part of Art Center's plan to become a two-campus school in the same city.

While keeping its main hillside campus five miles to the north as its headquarters, the college soon will have three buildings on the southerly L-shaped property along the Gold Line tracks. A decade ago, it adapted a former 1940s-era airplane testing facility on Raymond Avenue into studio and exhibition space. Now, just up the block, it has renovated the former two-story postal facility as a home for its illustration and fine art departments, with galleries and computer labs.

And this month, it is poised to buy a six-story office building across the Gold Line tracks on Arroyo Parkway for more classrooms and offices.

In the next few years, the 1,700-student school also plans to construct its first dormitories on an adjacent parking lot, helping to create a 24-hour campus in a city that also is home to Caltech and Pasadena City College.

http://www.latimes.com/local/educati...714-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LA Times

L.A.'s Mt. Wilson Observatory inspires the future of cosmology

“This is where modern cosmology began,” McCarthy says, surveying the room affectionately.

In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble spent years at Mt. Wilson peering through the eyepiece of the telescope with the observatory doors swung wide to let in the night. Here, he discovered that the universe extended far beyond the confines of the Milky Way galaxy. That came a few years after Harlow Shapley used Mt. Wilson's 60-inch telescope to determine that the Earth was not at the center of the Milky Way. These realizations transformed the field of astronomy.

Albert Einstein visited later, in 1931, to work on his new theory of general relativity. Thanks to Hubble's observation that faraway galaxies appeared to be racing away from us — a sign that the universe was expanding — Einstein abandoned the "cosmological constant" he had introduced to hold the universe together. With that, he unveiled the complete theory of relativity, transforming nearly everything we know about the physical world.

http://www.latimes.com/science/scien...804-story.html

[dragonsky]

• Video Link
First Look at the Petersen Auto Museum's Big Interior Makeover
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/0...r_makeover.php

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by Curbed LA

So there's a little tension with the architect and local critics hate the design, but plans still sail ahead for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures at Wilshire and Fairfax, on the edge of LACMA's campus. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just released the draft environmental impact report for its movie museum with all kinds of in-depth details and renderings; plans call for the renovation and reuse of the 1939 May Company department store building, a piazza, and a new wing with a museum entrance, a giant glass sphere connected to the old building via pedestrian bridge, a 1,000-seat theater, and a 10,000-square-foot enclosed viewing deck. (See all the details of the museum's layout over here.) The Academy is also hoping to have a bunch of signs on and around the museum, and apparently intends to follow through on that idea to put an Oscar statue (in tasteful outline) on the May Company building's giant golden tower at the Fairfax/Wilshire corner.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/0...cle_mile_1.php

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Space shuttle Endeavour inches closer to completion of final exhibit

As if they were performing delicate surgery, a crew inside the California Science Center museum hoisted a 3,000-pound portable space lab and storage pod inside the space shuttle Endeavour's huge cargo bay Thursday, reuniting the retired orbiter with a piece of equipment it used on some missions over its two decades of flight.

It was just one small step that, along with the installation of a replica robotic arm, airlock and docking system, moves the last shuttle ever built closer to becoming the nation's most complete iteration of the grounded aircraft on exhibit.

None of the other shuttles on display have equipment in the cargo bay. Endeavour's final pose will also be unique: It will be the only one of the three retired shuttles that orbited the Earth —Endeavour, Atlantis and Discovery — to be posed with its nose pointing to the stars, just like when it flew into space.

The final exhibit is still four years away from being complete. But the installation of equipment, which will continue in the coming days at the temporary exhibit site, will offer the public a rare, brief chance to see Endeavour with both cargo bay doors open before they are closed after Oct. 21.

The next big steps for the Endeavour exhibit will probably happen next year, when construction of the $250-million Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center — its eventual home — begins.

The museum has so far raised about $100 million of the $250 million needed to complete it. It is expected to open in 2018.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-e...010-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Huntington archivist finds historic piece of China's largest book

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced Thursday that it has portions of a rare and important Chinese manuscript called the Yongle Encyclopedia -- with 11,095 volumes, the largest book ever written in China.

The book was commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1403 in an attempt to gather in one place a broad range of Chinese knowledge, including astronomy, geography, medicine, religion, technology and art.

The resulting document, which Huntington archivist Li Wei Yang said is more like a compendium or a canon rather than an encyclopedia in the traditional sense, consisted of 22,877 sections in thousands of volumes.

In 1562, years after the Yongle Emperor's death, the Jiajing Emperor commissioned 109 scribes to transcribe the entire encyclopedia as a backup copy. It took them five years to complete the work.

"That was the only copy made," Yang said. "Eventually the original copy disappeared, and there is lots of speculation about what happened."

No conclusive evidence of its fate ever emerged.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...015-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Petersen Automotive Museum closes, and closes in on fundraising target

After a dinner of filet mignon and Stags Leap wines, and before a one-hour set of Beach Boys car-themed tunes such as "Little Deuce Coupe" and "409," Petersen Chairman Peter Mullin said the museum would close Monday but would definitely reopen on time next year.

"I know you're never supposed to make predictions," Mullin said. "But the museum will open again Dec. 1, 2015."

The museum also gave a sneak peek into the future, announcing two new Petersen features.

The remodeled museum will feature a Forza Motorsport Experience. Using Microsoft Xbox technology, the 1,500-square-foot Forza exhibit will enable visitors to pick a car from the museum's collection, match it to one of the world's great race tracks, and have a simulated race experience.

Real-world racing is coming too.

The museum will host the first of a planned annual series of races, to be called Petersen Invitational, beginning in February. The races will be held at the new privately-owned, members-only Thermal Club track near Palm Springs.

The races will be limited to a 48-driver field of professionals and will feature competition between vintage race cars from years past.

http://www.latimes.com/business/auto...019-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by PT

Long Beach launches last-ditch effort to save USS Ranger
POSTED: 09/16/14, 7:44 PM PDT

LONG BEACH >> As far as the Navy is concerned, the USS Ranger has run out of chances to be saved from the breaker’s yard.

Still, the city of Long Beach is launching a last-ditch effort to preserve the supercarrier featured in the movie “Top Gun.”

The City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday to direct City Manager Pat West to investigate the feasibility of bringing the ship to the waterfront as a floating museum.

The measure by Councilman Dee Andrews also asks the City Attorney’s Office to prepare a resolution stating Long Beach’s interest in the aircraft carrier.

Local interest in the Ranger is being led by resident Robert Harmon, a former sailor who served on the ship during the Gulf War. Commissioned in 1957, the Ranger earned 13 battle stars in the Vietnam War and operated primarily in the Pacific before it was taken out of service in 1993. The carrier is now in the Navy’s Ready Reserve fleet in Bremerton, Wash., and being prepared for scrapping.

Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., has made it clear that the Ranger is no longer available for donation, though the agency is aware of the proposal.

http://www.presstelegram.com/governm...ave-uss-ranger

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Eli Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles sets fall 2015 opening

Eli Broad's new contemporary art museum that is currently rising in downtown Los Angeles will now open some time in fall 2015, organizers said on Tuesday.

The museum has experienced delays since construction began in 2012, and an expected 2014 opening was scratched earlier this year.

Broad officials didn't provide specific dates in their announcement. The museum, designed by the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is expected to cost about $140 million and will feature artwork from the private collection of Eli and Edythe Broad. It will offer mostly free admission to the public. (There will be a charge for temporary special exhibitions.)

The delay in opening involves the building's complicated exterior design, which resembles a lattice pattern. The Broad is currently involved in a lawsuit with a subcontractor, Seele Inc., hired to create the exterior.

The museum is claiming that the problems have driven up costs by at least $19.8 million and caused the museum to delay its opening by at least 15 months.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...028-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Why a reclusive billionaire decided to give $500 million in art to L.A. museum

As a junior talent agent at MCA a half-century ago, Jerry Perenchio was assigned to accompany British actor Charles Laughton as he toured the U.S. giving staged theatrical readings.

In his off-hours, Laughton wanted to visit art museums, and Perenchio went along with him. A lifelong fascination with art had begun, and as Perenchio rose in the entertainment industry — ultimately becoming chairman of Univision Communications — he used his wealth to amass some of the world's greatest art.

At his Bel-Air home Wednesday, the 83-year-old Perenchio said that he will be giving almost all of it — at least 47 works valued at $500 million — to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

"L.A. is my home, and I wanted to leave it to a museum here," he said.

The bequest, which would go into effect after his death, comes with one big string attached: The museum must first complete construction of its new building, which is planned for 2023. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved in concept a plan that would provide public financing and $125 million toward the $600-million project, although key hurdles remain before construction can begin.

Times art critic Christopher Knight said Perenchio's bequest of works from the 19th and 20th centuries would be a significant addition to the museum's holdings.

"The terrific paintings by Monet, Leger and Magritte, for example, will add important dimensions to canvases by those artists already in LACMA's collection," Knight said. "Several of the numerous works on paper are especially intriguing — the Manet portrait, a very unique mixed-media Degas. LACMA's collection has been rather weak in Cubist art, which was critical to the whole 20th century, so early Picasso drawings like the 'Head of Fernande' ... are a very welcome addition."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...105-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Getty breaks record with $65.1-million purchase of Manet's 'Spring'
David Ng, Suzanne Muchnic

Though the Getty did not disclose how much it spent to acquire Manet’s 1881 “Spring (Le Printemps),” the auction house Christie’s confirmed that the winning bid, including buyer’s premium, was $65,125,000. The previous record for a Manet was $33.2 million, paid for "Self Portrait With a Palette" in London four years ago.

Manet intended “Spring” to be the first in a series of portraits expressing the four seasons through Parisian women, but the artist died in 1883 with only two completed: “Autumn” and “Spring.” The latter is an expression of the season through a portrait of Parisian actress Jeanne Demarsy, in floral print and gloves.

“Spring” was one of the “very small number of truly landmark masterpieces of the Impressionist period” that had remained in private hands, said Timothy Potts, director of the Getty Museum. He said the Manet would become an iconic part of the museum’s Impressionist/Post-Impressionist gallery. “No artist in late-19th-century France is more important, and this is one of his finest paintings. It’s as simple as that.”

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...105-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

County leaders praise Jerry Perenchio for $500-million LACMA gift

Bel-Air billionaire Jerry Perenchio made a rare appearance at a news conference Thursday morning, when Los Angeles County Museum of Art leaders and county officials praised the 83-year-old retired entertainment mogul for donating his art collection to the museum.

Perenchio thanked the county Board of Supervisors for its 5-0 vote Wednesday to approve initial funding of the museum's new building, which is planned for 2023.

"They should send all of you to Washington," Perenchio joked during his speech on the museum campus.

Perenchio's donation of at least 47 works by masters including Monet, Degas and Manet would take effect after his death and comes with the condition that the new LACMA building be completed in a timely manner.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...106-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Gibson to open store at former Tower Records site in West Hollywood

The former Tower Records building, a legendary West Hollywood site that was under threat of being demolished, will have a second life in the music business as a special outpost for guitar giant Gibson Brands.

Plans for the property, at 8801 Sunset Blvd., are in early stages, but the Nashville company intends to showcase its musical instruments and consumer electronics in a venue that will also feature live performances, Chief Executive Henry Juszkiewicz announced Monday.

"We want to reinvent this site to be the international phenomenon that its legacy deserves," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...111-story.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

Huntington's new visitor center strikes studiously neutral pose

Then there's the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, which on Wednesday will open the first phase of its $68-million education and visitor center, named for outgoing President Steven S. Koblik.

Designed by Architectural Resources Group (ARG), which worked on the 2008 restoration of the Art Gallery with Pasadena's Earl Corp., the new visitor center replaces Whitney Smith's 1980 entry pavilion on the eastern side of the Huntington's 207-acre campus. The facilities opening Wednesday include space for ticketing and membership services as well as a coffee shop and an expanded museum store.

After moving from the parking lot through an arrival court lined with pepper trees, visitors to the new complex will pass ticket windows and the cafe and enter a courtyard anchored by a fountain and four mature podocarpus trees. (The landscape architect is Office of Cheryl Barton.) The 5,000-square-foot museum store, with a mannered interior by Miroglio Architecture and Design, faces the courtyard on the east.

The three buildings are linked by loggias and cedar trellises that sit on slim white columns. There are touches of the Mission style in the red-tiled roofs, as well as hints of resort and estate architecture.

The second phase, opening in April, will add a 400-seat auditorium and a restaurant along with classrooms and meeting rooms, a large domed garden court and 42,000 square feet of underground storage space for the Huntington's varied collections. Newly landscaped gardens covering nearly 7 acres will be anchored by a long allée of olive trees pointing the way to the rest of the Huntington campus.

Across the allée, the second-phase buildings face the 2004 Munger Research Center, a bulky, expedient design by Earl Corp. that might be the Huntington's least popular piece of architecture.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...13-column.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by LAT

LACMA's 50th anniversary party starts early with major donations

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced major gifts of art from two of its trustees — the first wave of donations timed to the museum's 50th anniversary in April.

A gift from Jane and Marc Nathanson consists of eight works of modern and contemporary art created over four decades, including pieces by Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Julian Schnabel, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol worth an estimated $50 million total.

The gift from Lynda and Stewart Resnick consists of four works spanning 400 years: a Renaissance painting by Hans Memling, a bronze sculpture by Mannerist artist Giambologna, as well as paintings by François Boucher and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres from the 18th and 19th centuries.

"The lifeblood of any museum is its collection," museum director Michael Govan said. "LACMA has one of the best holdings of art in the world, and I'm delighted it is being made stronger through these gifts."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...121-story.html

[dragonsky]

Los Angeles has the fourth most personal residences in the world owned by those of the "ultra high net worth" persuasion, aka people with more than $30 million in net assets, aka the first up against the wall; it follows only New York, London, and Hong Kong.

http://www.sothebysrealty.com/extrao...e-report-2015/

[dragonsky]

An in-progress look at the Broad museum
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...ok-column.html

[dragonsky]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.c...-national.html

The proposed Korean American National Museum at 6th/Vermont is changing from a standalone three-story building to a seven-story building with five floors of apartments (101 units) and two floors of museum space below.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=647

[dragonsky]

• Video Link
USC Village Construction Site Aerial Video

[dragonsky]

LACMA purchases long-lost masterpiece, once kept under a couch

Christina Jones Janssen had something more valuable under the couch in her Bay Area home — a lost and extremely rare masterpiece of 18th century painting, neatly rolled up and remarkably well-preserved.

She suspected it might be important, and her sleuthing led to what art experts are calling one of the most important discoveries of Mexican Colonial art in recent memory.

The picture is a long-lost work by Miguel Cabrera (circa 1715-1768), the greatest painter of his era in Mexico City, capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. His prolific workshop produced religious and secular art for the Catholic Church and the social elite.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...mn.html#page=1