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 of Bacon's, 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 later 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. It was reportedly Elaine who sparked Steve's interest in art. The couple's art collection was split in their 2010 divorce. Elaine said she was "gobsmacked" when she saw Three Studies of Lucian Freud at Christie's, days before the auction. "First I was worried I'd want to buy it. Then I worried I might not get it."
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| Detail of left figure |
Wynn bid anonymously, leaving art pundits to speculate on who had bought the "world's most expensive painting." She hung the Bacon in her living room, explaining, "When I invite people over, I lose them for the first ten minutes."
Wynn was a longtime LACMA supporter and trustee who donated $50 million towards the Peter Zumthor building. She was also the main force behind the planned 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, 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 recent 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. MoMA is unique in having half a dozen Bacons, and the Guggenheim has a great early triptych. Both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Des Moines Art Center have screaming popes, smart purchases made before Bacon's prices skyrocketed.
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| Francis Bacon, reconstruction of 1981-1982 triptych. The panel at right, Study for the Eumenides, is owned by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation |
There is a Bacon at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, the collector's former Holmby Hills residence that is open to tours by reservation. That work is the right panel of a dismembered 1981-1982 triptych, titled Study for the Eumenides. The center panel is in the Centre Pompidou, and the left is in a private collection.
The LACMA news should put to rest an urban legend that the Wynn triptych was lost in the Palisades fire. It was alleged that the painting was (somehow) in the possession of actor Anthony Hopkins and was lost when flames consumed Hopkins' home. 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's masterpieces, sparing only Bacon's Figure with Meat: "I kind of like this one, Bob, leave it."
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| Lucian Freud's 1952 portrait of Francis Bacon is at the Tate, London |
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.
*
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.
The split between the Broad with its modern and the Geffen with presumably Impressionate paintings from people like Jerry Perenchio, and the different display formats of the two buildings, will be interesting. The Broad may end up being a setting that's more complimentary to older styles of art---maybe even newer too. So perhaps it will be a case of cognitive dissonance?
BTW, I recall Michael Govan several years ago mentioning this site and "Bill Poundstone." If people at LACMA, etc, are as interested in LA's museum scene as they hopefully are, this blog pretty much stands alone.
I was looking at an aerial photo of the 1965-1986 buildings next to the Goff/Price building. It was taken before the Broad and Resnick had been built and when there was still a street where Renzo Piano's entrance canopy now is.
I cringe at that version of the museum because it was way below a major-league standard. I think that's around the time a visitor from Minnesota, accustomed to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (a Beaux-Arts building built in the early 1900s), posted an online review of LACMA. Even though the MIA's collection seems fairly middling, she was quite unimpressed with LACMA. I went, yikes.
> tried to make a big deal
> about the palm trees
I have no problem with them. However, I'm apprehensive that the areas on the first level under the Geffen's 2nd floor and extending several feet beyond the roof line will be too much hardscape.
The Lucas Museum has a similar two-pod format, but its landscaping looks like it will be well done. Also, while Peter Zumthor's building is still open to question, the setting around Ma Yansong's structure apparently will be well thought out.
Its roof will be also accessible to the public and contain plantings. In comparison, I'm not sure if LACMA may have a more ad-hoc quality. I hope not.
I doubt you would know good art from bad if your life depended on it.