SANTA ANA JUMPED GUN ON ART SHOWS

Early last month, Santa Ana city officials announced that Bowers Museum had been chosen for a big-league attraction: a trio of European masters exhibits beginning in 1988.

According to the announcement, the proposed shows--said to include works by El Greco, Rubens and Botticelli--would be part of a U.S. tour set up by the Sacramento-based Foundation for International Exhibits in cooperation with European government agencies.

Now Deputy City Manager Jan Perkins says the Sept. 4 announcement was “premature” and “a mistake”--a case of municipal overeagerness. The European agencies that have jurisdiction over the artworks, she notes, have yet to approve the project, and no public or private funds have been committed to the tour plan.

Also, city officials say, the Foundation for International Exhibits was formed only this year, and foundation president Robert Podesta, who is also a state Senate fiscal consultant, has had no experience in mounting art exhibitions.

Two other California museums--the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach and the San Jose Museum of Art--had already rejected the “international masters” project before Podesta made his official proposal to Santa Ana last summer.

Despite these rejections and the foundation’s fledgling status, city officials explain, they decided the overture from Podesta was potentially too promising to ignore, especially at a time when Bowers--a city-owned museum known only for exhibits of moderate scale--is seeking to reach regional status as an arts institution.

In fact, Santa Ana officials have not ruled out possible further negotiations with Podesta, now said to be in Europe seeking official backing from government cultural agencies in Belgium, Italy and Spain. The foundation’s Orange County spokeswoman, Sheila Catlett, said there would be no comment from the foundation until Podesta’s scheduled return Oct. 30.

“The ball’s in his (Podesta’s) court,” said William Lee, director of Bowers. “We have nothing to lose in waiting to see what he might come up with (from European governments). No (city) money is at risk, and no agreement has been put into effect yet. It’s all still very exploratory.”

A preliminary agreement approved by the City Council--but still to be signed by the foundation--sets a Dec. 31 deadline for Podesta to gain endorsements from all three governments for the Bowers shows. If that occurs, city officials said, the city is to give the foundation $10,000 in seed money.

The formal pitch from Podesta last August, according to Lee, was this:

- Bowers would have “The Genius of El Greco,” a 45-piece exhibit, in 1988; “The Works of Tuscany Masters,” featuring 53 artworks, in 1989 and “The Works of the Flemish Masters,” a 45-piece show, in 1990.

- Overall costs would range from $400,000 to $600,000 for each show. But the fees paid by the city would not exceed $50,000 for each exhibit, and the foundation would assist in local private fund raising for underwriting most of the Bowers show costs.

- Bowers would be the only Southern California site for the U.S. tour, which would include at least four other museums.

According to Santa Ana officials, foundation representatives had mentioned the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and the New Orleans Museum of Art as possible other tour sites. But administrators at these two museums, recently queried about any such arrangements, have denied having any involvement in the project.

Paul Schimmel, exhibitions curator at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, confirmed that the museum’s director, Kevin Consey, was approached by Podesta last June. In view of the “vagueness” of the foundation’s proposal and the “lack of a (foundation) track record,” Schimmel said, the proposal was turned down.

“We found nothing but a concept and nothing that was really thought out in the usual manner for such an undertaking,” said Schimmel, who returned recently from Belgium, where he participated in planning sessions for a 20th-Century Flemish masters’ show to be held at the Newport Harbor Art Museum in late 1986. The museum has been involved in several previous international showings, including the Edvard Munch retrospective and the exhibits of contemporary artists from Germany, Italy and France.

John Olbrantz, director of the San Jose Museum of Art, who was approached by Podesta in July, had similar reactions toward the foundation proposal. “I had too many questions--what were the actual works involved, who would be the curators--things like that. He (Podesta) was never specific.”

But Perkins, the Santa Ana deputy city manager, explained the city’s official stance this way: “Of course, we were interested--and still are--in the (foundation) plan. There’s no single formula for achieving this kind of exhibit. We feel if there’s any chance at all for such a major attraction, we have to follow it up and keep all possible doors open.”