LACMA

z On the Cover Mask of Silenos from the House of the Gilded Cupids, Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei, Uffi cio Scavi, Pompei, photography © Luciano Pedicini Vol. 48, no. 2, Connect (issn 1551-0654) is published bimonthly by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Ten dollars of membership dues goes toward one year's subscription to Connect. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA. lacma is accredited by the American Association of Museums. © 2009 Museum Associ- ates dba Los Angeles County Museum of Art. All rights reserved. Public programs photogra- phy, courtesy of Brant Brogan. Unless otherwise noted, all works lacma; all photographs © 2009 Museum Associates/lacma. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Connect, Membership Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Senior Editor: Brooke Fruchtman Graphic Designer: Paul Wehby Questions or comments about Connect? Please e-mail Brooke Fruchtman at bfrucht@lacma.org. Director's Note Michael Govan ceo and Wallis Annenberg Director In This Issue Director's Note..................................................................................... 2 News & Highlights .............................................................................. 2 FEATURE Pompeii and the Roman Villa ................................................... 3 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Talks & Courses ............................................................................ 5 Calendar ................................................................................................ 6 Film ........................................................................................................ 8 Music ...................................................................................................... 9 NexGen ................................................................................................ 10 Member Benefi ts ............................................................................... 11 The Back Page .................................................................................... 12 2 Around the time I accepted my position at lacma in 2006, I found myself at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where I was installing Dan Flavin, an exhibition I cocurated when I was director at the Dia in New York (and which also even- tually was mounted at lacma). While in the nga's curatorial offi ces I saw their staff planning Pompeii and the Roman Villa. I knew many of the key objects planned for the show because they were being lent by the National Archeological Museum in Naples, perhaps my favorite museum in the world. Pompeii and the Roman Villa was to have just two stops in the U.S., and I felt it had to come to Los Angeles. Three years later, I am thrilled to see the exhibition open at lacma. Pompeii, a specially ticketed exhibition, is sure to draw a large audience during its run. It is exhibitions like this where we are best able to show our appreciation to you, our members. Through benefi ts like free tickets, Member Preview Days, Members-Only Viewing Days, and members-only windows at the box offi ce, we do all we can to make your experience of Pompeii the best it can be. We'll also be celebrating your support over Mother's Day weekend for our biannual Members Appreciation Days (see page 11 for details). We do appreciate you: during trying economic times such as these, your support is more essential than ever. With more specially ticketed exhibitions planned for the coming year—Renoir in the 20th Century and American Stories: Paintings from Everyday Life, 1765–1915—I hope you will continue to renew your support. Many donors and members have asked how lacma has fared in the current economic climate. Through the efforts of our Finance Committee and the guidance of lacma President Melody Kanschat, we fi nd ourselves maintaining a steady course, even if we make future plans with caution. Attendance at the museum is up—due in part to our efforts to make lacma free for many visitors through programs such as NexGen. We continue to move forward with construction of the Resnick Exhibi- tion Pavilion, thanks to Lynda and Stewart Resnick's generous gift to our Transformation campaign. And we are also coming off of a year that saw an unprecedented amount of extraordinary gifts of art, including the Lazarof Collection of modern art and the Vernon Collection of photography. Even in a continued economic downturn, the quality of our programs, our cam- pus, and our collection will have already signifi cantly improved. It truly is a transformation that will benefi t our visitors for generations to come—and it is thanks to members like you, who maintain your support, that lacma remains a place where families can come to enjoy themselves, to learn, and to fi nd inspiration. New Acquisitions in Spanish Colonial Art For the fi rst time in lacma's history, the museum is devoting galleries to Spanish colonial art. This is a fi rst not only for lacma but also for many mainstream museums across the country that have traditionally showcased pre-Columbian art, but very rarely art of the viceroyalties. Among the works on view is a group of six recent acquisitions by the eighteenth-century Mexican painter Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, one of the most sophisticated and accomplished artists of the time. Mor- lete's paintings are based on engravings of the original series of paintings, Ports de France, by the French artist Claude-Joseph Vernet. Vernet's series comprised fi fteen paintings, which were completed between 1753 and 1765 and commissioned for Louis xv of France. Though the subject of Morlete's work may be surprising— French ports—curator Ilona Katzew explains that this is precisely what makes the set so compelling. "It tells us much about the working methods of Spanish colonial masters and how they were aware of the most current European artistic trends." Social Media Outreach In the museum's continued efforts to communicate to members, lacma has substantially grown its online pres- ence, most notably through its blog, Unframed, which has attracted nearly 50,000 visitors in less than six months and continues to see a steady increase in daily views; the blog's entries regularly drive coverage in traditional and nontraditional media. Additionally, lacma's Twitter page, with 1,200 followers, is a key tool in the dissemination of information. Other social media out- lets include Facebook, where updates are sent weekly to 3,277 fans; MySpace, which has 4,225 friends; and pages for Flickr, YouTube, and iTunes. All of these sites can be accessed by visiting lacma.org. Ogden Drive Construction Watch When bcam opened last year, the city of Los Angeles required lacma to remove the traffi c signal at the cor- ner of Ogden Drive and Wilshire Boulevard and extend the medians to create a T-intersection. The result was that some lacma visitors and passersby would climb through the median to cross the street—both danger- ous and illegal. Now, with the strong support of fourth district city council member Tom LaBonge, the Ogden/ Wilshire traffi c light is being reinstalled along with a pedestrian crosswalk; construction is expected to be completed in June. In a message on his website, Mr. LaBonge said, "I wanted it back in place to make it easier for neighbors south of Wilshire to walk to and enjoy the museum." Other improvements to this area include a new right-turn lane at the southbound intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard and a new bus pad in front of lacma West. Additional Artworks Added to Multimedia Tour In November, lacma introduced thirty-one multimedia tours offering visitors the opportunity to learn about works in its modern collection by hearing audio com- mentary and viewing video, comparative images, and "touch-and-listen" features focusing on details in works of art. Visitors are also able to select "favorites," which they can view in a virtual gallery, as well as access ad- ditional information after logging on to lacma's website following their visit. Works from lacma's collections of South and Southeast Asian, Islamic, Ancient Near East- ern, Egyptian, and American art, as well as site-specifi c works—Urban Light by Chris Burden, Robert Irwin's palm garden, and Smoke by Tony Smith—have now been added to the tour. Below: Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, View of the City and Port of Bayonne (Vista de la villa y puerto de Bayona), 1771 Right: Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British, 1852, bicentennial gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Schaaf, Mr. and Mrs. William D. Witherspoon, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Shoemaker, and Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr. news & highlights

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