L.A. Museums’ Collections Grow Despite Downturn
February 11, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Los Angeles museums added scores, if not hundreds, of works to their collections in 2008, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art gained 4,747 pieces, including 3,500 photographs from collectors Marjorie and Leonard Vernon. The Museum of Contemporary Art, where financial problems led to the recent departure of director Jeremy Strick, added 141 works, and the J. Paul Getty Museum made 894 acquisitions, including an Ethiopian manuscript and a Gauguin painting.
Roy Hamilton, a curator at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, said institutions such as his that rely heavily on gifts are less likely to be severely hurt by the grim economy, but museums that struggle to amass acquisition funds could be affected.
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