Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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particularly well represented. Also displayed here are works by contemporary potters and glass-blowers, as well as sculptures and new modern acquisitions. Works by retrospective contemporary artists such as Frank Stella, David Hockney, Robert Longo as well as other special exhibitions are to be found in the five galleries on the ground floor. In the basement of this building are the offices and workshops of the museum's custodians.

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modern and contemporary, which range in date from the medieval period (about 1200) to the present day.

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works of art from 1900 to 1950 are displayed in galleries 307-311, including works belonging to such art schools as expressionism, cubism, Russian avant-garde, German expressionism, dadaism and surrealism. The German expressionists are well represented: Nolde, Meidner, Barlach, Schmidt-Rottluff, Kollwitz, Pechstein, Kirchner and Heckel. Schwitters holds a special place among the dadaists. Of those Americans who pay homage to abstract expressionism, works by Stuart Davis, Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, Morris Louis, Willem de Kooning, James Pollock and Frank Stella, to mention only the most important, are represented (galleries 312-14).

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the antiquarian to the 19th century - and require maximum concentration from the visitor. Chinese and Korean art and Asiatic lacquer-work are to be found in the basement. On the ground floor you will find British decorative art (gallery 102A), British painting and sculpture (105), the unique Gilbert collections of Italian late Renaissance mosaics and large silver items (103 and 104), American painting, sculpture and decorative art from the 18th and 19th c. (106-113), African and South Sea art (114) and pre-Columbian art (115).

First floor

On the first floor the tour begins with Egyptian art (201) and then continues with ancient western Asiatic art, including five reliefs from the second millennium BC. from the palace of King Ashurnasir II in Nimrod, Assyria (201A). Then follows a newly-installed gallery of Iranian art, two 16th century carpets being outstanding. Antique glass from various countries and civilizations is on show in galleries 203 and 219, Greek and Roman sculptures in gallery 205. Medieval and Renaissance art (205-208) and European paintings and sculptures from later epochs (210-217) are without doubt the main sections of the museum. Outstanding examples from this collection are pictures by Rembrandt ("The Raising of Lazarus" and "Man in a Black Hat"), Rubens ("Adoration of the Shepherds"), Frans Hals ("Portrait of a Man"), Fra Bartolommeo ("The Holy Family"), Canaletto, Georges de la Tour ("Magdalene with the Smoking Flame", one of the four representations of Mary Magdalene by the Frenchmaster) and one of St Andreas by El Greco. Of the German masters, Dürer, Hans Baldung (known as Grien), Lucas Cranach the elder, Riemenschneider and Schongauer are represented. There is also a good collection of works by French impressionists.

Second floor

The second floor is devoted exclusively to Asiatic and Near Eastern art. The tour begins with Indian sculptures from the first millennium, mainly of sandstone, bronze and gilded bronze, and a representation of the dancing god Shiva dating from the 10th century (301). Works of art from southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tibet are to be found in galleries 302 and 303; many - including 15th century Indian water-colors (304) - come from the collection by Frau Nasil Heeremaneck, who supported the museum in the seventies.

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includes early writing cabinets, Christian ivory carvings from Goa, fine metalware, jewelry and enamel work, and Mughal jades and glassware.

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century) and as the museum did not have sufficient space for its now extended Japanese exhibits it was decided to build a special room for them. The collector Joe D. Price had originally chosen the architect Goff to build the pavilion on his land in Oklahoma. However, Goff subsequently favored housing the collection in a museum. His design was amended by another architect only to the extent that the building had to conform to the earthquake requirements and other building regulations laid down by Los Angeles. The roofs were supported by cables fixed to the curved beams, reminding one of Japanese gateways. The transparent walls are obviously meant to imitate Japanese shoji (paper screens). The curved interior of the pavilion contains cascades and pools.

The building consists of two parts: in one can be found prints, a Netsuke collection, ceramics, kimonos and sculptures, which were already in the museum's possession but only a part of which could be displayed. The second wing is fitted with ramps; this is where the screens and scrolls from the Price collection are displayed. As there is not sufficient room for everything, it is planned to alternate the exhibits.

Building plans

Extensions to the museum are still not complete. The next projects are a library, a small lecture hall, and possibly a home for the decorative arts. In Hancock Park in which the museum stands there is sufficient space for such developments.

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as a gift, it is today actually on loan, as Hammer fell out with the museum and is now thinking of building his own museum to house his whole art collection. On this floor, in addition to the Hammer Collection, are sketches, prints and photographs in three galleries. On the ground floor are offices and in the basement the museum shop and a gallery for special exhibitions.

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Europe and the USA.

Not until September 1988 was an unusual pavilion opened for the large stocks of Japanese art; from an architectural point of view this is without doubt the boldest undertaking this continually expanding museum has made. Its creator was the architect Bruce Goff, who died while the building work was going on.

Subsidy

The museum is maintained by the county, not by the city; the individual buildings were financed by donations from private patrons. The cost of the Anderson Building, for example, amounted to 35 million dollars, and that of the Japanese Pavilion 12.5 million. The other buildings which date from the beginnings of the museum bear the names of their chief sponsors: Howard Ahmanson, Armand Hammer and Leo S Bing.