LACMA’s Decorative Arts

The Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art’s (LACMA) permanent collection will always hold a special place in my heart. The home of David Hockney’s iconic (and locally relevant), panoramic Pop painting Mullholland Drive, Kurt Schwitters’ Dada masterful assemblage work Construction for Noble Ladies, and brilliant photographs from renowned artist Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills series, LACMA has long been a veritable venue for the who’s who and what’s what in modern art and beyond. Even in recent years of economic hardship, the museum has only grown more impressive with the addition of its Broad Contemporary Museum of Art, an adjacent museum space heavy on Pop giant like Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg, all loaned by art aficionados and philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. But LACMA’s gifts aren’t only limited to contemporary works. Thanks to the generosity of a few local folk, the museum’s Decorative Arts Department has also recently strengthened its veins.

The collection, which consists of wood, glass, furniture, metal, ceramics, and textiles of periods spanning from the 14th century to the present day, already boasts a bounty of pieces from the Arts and Crafts movement, which flourished from the tail end of the 19th century into the very early 20th century and highlighted a nature-inspired and handmade aesthetic. While the movement took place in England, Canada, and other parts of the United States, California remains a significant location in Arts and Crafts history. Until recently, LACMA already included (among many items) a beautiful cellarette from the New York-based artisan community Roycroft, lighting fixtures by the Linden Glass Company and Karl E. Kipp, furniture from Pasadena’s relished Blacker House (designed by the noted firm Greene & Greene), and a stunning mosaic-ed fireplace front from the Patrick J. King House in Chicago. Much of these items are from the private collection of donor Max Palevsky.

Despite the collection having such attractions, one vocal person felt a significant absence in some of the local representation. This person, William J. Zeili, was the great-nephew of a man who ran a furniture shop with Arthur and Lucia Mathews, two major artists of California’s Arts and Crafts movement in the early 1900s. At the time, LACMA’s Decorative Arts and Design collection only held one work by the duo, a landscape painting. At Zeili’s invitation, the Decorative Art department, spearheaded by curator Wendy Kaplan, selected a handful of pieces including a standing candelabrum and a hand-painted chest from the South Pasadena family home. The pieces were unveiled at LACMA on June 14th, 2009.

LACMA’s under-appreciated Decorative Arts and Design Collection also showcases significant works by another California woodworker, Sam Maloof. The MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient (who died only this year) was a contemporary force in his medium du jour, his works included in many other prestigious collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institute of Art. LACMA’s works by Maloof include a stylized-beyond-its-material rocking chair carved from cherry wood, a double-sided music stand, a minimalist settee, and an austere coffee table and chest of drawers.

If these acquisitions weren’t reason enough to explore the Decorative Arts and Design Collection, this LACMA department also features Mid-century silver jewelry by Warren Carter and Ed Wiener, 15th and 16th century Netherlander and Swiss stained glass, and Art Nouveau metal vases and andirons and wooden furniture. But curator Wendy Kaplan certainly gives special attention to the pieces created locally, making the collection beam California pride.

Click here to read about the Limited Edition book Maloof Beyond 90 - An American Woodworker by Gene Sasse.

Words Ashley Tibbits

Images Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art