Wynn Bequeaths Francis Bacon Triptych to LACMA
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| Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969. LACMA, gift of Elaine P. Wynn. (c) The Estate of Francis Bacon |
The sitter is of course Lucian Freud (1922-2011), the figurative painter, friend and rival of Bacon's, and grandson of Sigmund Freud. Bacon and Freud's friendship ended after an argument in the mid 1970s. Coincidentally, the triptych's panels were separated about the same time, to Bacon's displeasure. They were reunited and shown at the Yale Center for British Art in 1999. Each panel measures 78 by 57 inches.
Elaine Wynn, who died this April, was co-founder of ex-husband Steve Wynn's casino empire. Both were interested in art, with their collection split in their 2010 divorce. Wynn was a longtime LACMA supporter and trustee, plus backer of the Las Vegas Museum of Art. She and LACMA director Michael Govan shepherded a plan to program the Las Vegas Museum with selections from LACMA's collection.
The gift of Three Studies to LACMA wasn't a complete surprise. Wynn teased the possibility in a 2015 interview with the New York Times: "I am going to donate it to a museum of my choice before I go to the craps game in the sky. LACMA will certainly be prominently considered but there are others on my list."
According to the Wall Street Journal, other works from Wynn's collection are to be auctioned by Christie's this November. These include paintings by J.M.W. Turner, Picasso, Joan Mitchell, Richard Diebenkorn—and a Lucian Freud self-portrait.
The Bacon will debut in the initial installation of the David Geffen Galleries (which clearly will have a lot of contemporary art). It's the latest in a string of recently announced acquisitions by Manet, van Gogh, Picasso, Jeff Koons, Todd Gray, and Lauren Halsey.
There are only a handful of major Bacon paintings in U.S. museums, presumably because of his high prices. The Guggenheim has a great early triptych, and MoMA has half a dozen works. Both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Des Moines Art Center have screaming popes. As far as I can tell, the Wynn gift becomes the only first-rate Bacon painting west of Des Moines.
The news should put to rest an urban legend that the Bacon triptych was lost in the Palisades fire. It's said that the painting was (somehow) in the possession of actor Anthony Hopkins and was lost when Hopkins' home burned down. Hopkins' home did burn down, but the rest is fake news.
Bacon has a following in the film business. Late director David Lynch was quoted: "Francis Bacon is one of my giant inspirations. I just love him to pieces." In Tim Burton's Batman, the Joker (Jack Nicholson) vandalizes a museum, sparing only Bacon's Figure with Meat: "I kind of like this one, Bob, leave it."
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| Detail of left figure |
Comments
> The Bacon will debut in the initial
> installation of the David Geffen
> Galleries (which clearly will have
> a lot of contemporary art)
In the meantime, a not-small area in the Resnick Pavilion continues to house Josiah McElheny's artwork that riffs on the chandeliers of NYC's Metropolitan Opera House. Between things like that and what's in the Broad building, damn it, there isn't enough newer art exhibited throughout LACMA.
Jeex, I don't know why LACMA should be judged as a "de facto contemporary art museum, but not a very good one,"
I hope the Bacon work is displayed next to works from British artists of the 1700s or 1800s. After all, Bacon is a European white guy from the UK too. Although he was born in Ireland, so LACMA will hopefully work in some IRA angle.
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Separately, the pumpkin-bisque color of the background is my least favorite of Bacon's color choices for his triptychs.
Remember how the SaveLACMA mob tried to claim that LACMA was NOT going to get anything in return for forming a cooperative relationship with the nascent Las Vegas Museum of Art. WRONG again.
Remember how this blog did NOT honor or even acknowledge the death of Elaine Wynn. Instead the excuse was that this blog only covers events that are typically not covered elsewhere. Should have remained consistent because you were WRONG.
... This is a masterpiece. People will come to see this painting. I look forward to seeing Ms. Wynn's name on the wall label. As true collectors know, as I am sure she knew, it's a piece of eternity.
--- J. Garcin
I keep forgetting how surprisingly limited the museum's collection really is. And with LACMA's budget under more pressure than ever before - due in part to the new concrete TikTok/Instagram building - the comparatively low-cost nature of organizing shows of contemporary art will continued unabated.