LACMA Magdalen on Loan to Getty
LACMA has lent Georges de La Tour's Magdalen with the Smoking Flame to the Getty. For the first time, LACMA's meditative masterpiece shares a wall with the Getty's rowdy La Tour, Musicians' Brawl.
Several of LACMA's best-known European paintings were lent to the Getty during construction of the new permanent collection galleries. The Magdalen wasn't included, as it was sent to the Portland Art Museum in 2019; then COVID closed down L.A. museums. Portland's now-retired curator of European art, Dawson Carr, was a Getty alum.
The LACMA Magdalene is believed to be the earliest and best-preserved of a group of similar compositions, the others in Paris, New York, and Washington. Discovered in the 1970s, it was granted export from France because of a nearly identical, though poorly preserved, Magdalene in the Louvre.
Comments
https://www.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/27882-save-lacma
> ...the article published by The New York Times
> about architect Peter Zumthor’s now public
> disavowal of the building that once had his name
> attached to it. “There are no Zumthor details
> any more,” he said even though LACMA’s embattled
> CEO, Michael Govan, disagreed, “No, no, that’s
> not true.
Govan, after he retires or steps down, had better not leave the museum in a financial, operational shambles. I get why the Pereira-era buildings weren't ideal and perhaps unsalvageable. But "good" intentions don't justify busted budgets, poor choices and, worst of all, sleight-of-hand ethics and tactics.
Sadly, his own demons get the best of him.
https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/11/peter-zumthor-vals-therme-spa-switzerland-destroyed-news/amp/
It’s good news though that the de la Tour made a safe return from LACMA board member Elaine Wynn’s casino in Macau where it was being shown off in the high roller gambling rooms.