LACMA

On the Cover: Do Ho Suh, Fallen Star 1/5 (detail), 2008–9, courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, NY, © Do Ho Suh Vol. 48, no. 3, 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: Maja Blazejewska Printed by on 60lb Smooth Opaque Offset on a Hantscho press Questions or comments about Connect? Please e-mail Brooke Fruchtman at bfrucht@lacma.org. Printed by on z Director's Note Michael Govan ceo and Wallis Annenberg Director In This Issue Director's Note..................................................................................... 2 News & Highlights .............................................................................. 2 FEATURE Your Bright Future .............................................................................. 3 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Talks & Courses ................................................................................... 5 Calendar ................................................................................................ 6 Film ........................................................................................................ 8 Music ...................................................................................................... 9 NexGen ................................................................................................ 10 Member Benefi ts ............................................................................... 11 The Back Page .................................................................................... 12 2 As you've already read—and probably seen—Pompeii and the Roman Villa has opened with great fanfare to very good reviews. Those of you who saw it in its opening weeks may want to see it again, now with a late-breaking addition. As the exhibition opened, we had the opportunity to add an interesting component; San Diego artist Eleanor Antin (who had her own exhibition at lacma in 1999) had just fi nished her fi lm, Classical Frieze, which reframes classical narratives in the present. Antin's restaging of Pompeii's fi nal days resonated with our exhibition, so we installed her video and a few photographs within the Pompeii galleries. Meanwhile, just opened in bcam is our exhibition of contemporary Korean art, Your Bright Future. With this exhibition and the upcoming reopening of our traditional Korean galleries in the fall, lacma is very proud to make a commit- ment to Korean culture, past and present. We are proud to have sponsors and supporters from Korea and from Los Angeles's Korean community—the largest such community outside of Korea itself—for both the current exhibition and upcoming permanent reinstallation. I'm also happy to report that even in diffi cult economic times, for the third year in a row we raised more money than ever at our annual Collectors Committee. The result: we acquired an exemplary mural-sized painting by the great surrealist Roberto Matta, Burn, Baby, Burn, and a collection of textiles from Africa's Kuba culture—both extremely important, targeted additions to our collections. Just as our collections continue to grow in essential ways, so too does our campus. It is very exciting to come to work every day to see the progress made on the Resnick Exhibition Pavilion. The foundation is set, the steel frame is in place, and soon the glass-and-marble façade will be installed. Before you know it, we will be mounting its inaugural exhibition—less than a year away. It is more than gratifying to see the momentum continue at lacma, and it is due entirely to you, our members. In these tough times, we appreciate—and need—your ongoing support more than ever. New Acquisitions lacma's 2009 Collectors Committee recently acquired two major works of art at their annual weekend of events: Roberto Matta's massive painting, Burn, Baby, Burn (L'escalade), and a collection of 117 nineteenth-cen- tury textiles from the Kuba culture of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Matta created Burn, Baby, Burn in 1965–66 as a response to the Vietnam War and Watts riots. The Kuba textiles, meanwhile, will add important depth to lacma's permanent collection, bolstering the museum's African art collection and complementing both the costume and textiles and modern art collec- tions, as the patterns from this culture were a direct infl uence on artists such as Picasso and Matisse. In the days following the event, individual members and donors contributed additional funds toward two more acquisitions: four illustrated pages from a sixteenth-cen- tury manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings), and a set of Oribe Ware food vessels for the Tea Ceremony from Japan's Momoyama period (1573–1615). Press for Pompeii Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples opened at lacma in the spring to critical ac- claim. The Los Angeles Times's Christopher Knight called the show "absorbing," "well-considered," and "beauti- fully installed." He wrote that the exhibition is "a large but not exhausting study of one culture absorbing and remaking the artistic legacy of another…" On kcrw's Art Talk, Edward Goldman also had high praise for the exhibition he deemed a "blockbuster," saying that listeners simply could not allow themselves to miss the chance to experience the amazingly well-preserved sculptures, frescoes, and glass vessels that have never been seen outside of Italy. New York Times on Meléndez—Coming this Fall Opening at lacma to members on September 24, Luis Meléndez: Master of the Spanish Still Life has garnered rave reviews from the New York Times at its fi rst stop at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The paper calls it a "splendid show" and claims the artist is today "considered the greatest still-life painter of 18th-century Spain." lacma's Art of Two Germanys Opens in Nuremberg After receiving critical acclaim at lacma, Art of Two Ger- manys/Cold War Cultures has traveled to Germany as part of the country's commemoration of two historical events—the sixtieth anniversary of the division of West and East Germany and the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago. The exhibi- tion is one of several large-scale projects with which the Federal Cultural Foundation is commemorating these two anniversaries in 2009. It is currently on view at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg and will go on view at the German Historical Museum in Berlin this October. lacma Exhibition Wins aamc Award The Association of Art Museum Curators announced the recipients of their 2008 Annual Award for Excellence. lacma's newly installed collection of modern art, in- cluding the Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection, which was curated by Stephanie Barron, won in the fi eld of Outstanding Exhibition or Installation. top: Roberto Matta, Burn, Baby, Burn (L'escalade) (detail), 1965–1966, gift of the 2009 Collectors Committee, with additional funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund news & highlights FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE MUSIC LISTINGS, VISIT LACMA.ORG. TO WATCH A SLIDESHOW OF WORKS FROM THIS EXHIBITION, VISIT LACMA.ORG.

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