Simon Museum Announces Loans to LACMA, MOCA

In a surprise move--certain to seem symbolic to the art world--the Norton Simon Museum has announced a plan to loan 21 major works of American contemporary art to the County Museum of Art and at least 13 other important pieces to the Museum of Contemporary Art. Works from Simon’s collection will go on view Thursday at the county museum. MOCA will open its Simon loan exhibition in late September.

The announcement has rekindled long-standing speculation about the destination of Simon’s celebrated collection. Negotiations to give his collection to UCLA recently broke down, reviving rumors of a merger between Simon and the J. Paul Getty Museum. But this latest move raises new questions about the possibility that Simon might give his contemporary holdings to other museums.

Simon curator Sara Campbell denied that the loan was the first step in divesting the museum’s contemporary material, however. Giving away art is “not the issue at the moment; it doesn’t have anything to do with the loan,” she said.

Simon, who prefers old and modern masters, French Impressionism and Asian sculpture, has not collected contemporary art. But he acquired an important cache of contemporary material along with the Galka Scheyer collection of German Expressionism when he took over the financially troubled Pasadena Art Museum in 1974.

Contemporary art aficionados worried that Simon would warehouse the contemporary collection or sell it. Although efforts were made to dispose of some of the works, over time Simon has also prominently displayed major contemporary works in one gallery at his Pasadena showcase.

The announcement seems to represent a sudden change in policy for an institution that has been known for its refusal to make loans. According to Campbell, the Simon board of trustees originally adopted a strict loan policy “in the interests of conservation and our viewing public.” She said in the past the museum had only loaned “maybe once in five years.”

One factor in Simon’s decision to share his contemporary works is a lack of sufficient display space at the Pasadena facility, Campbell said. Also, such a loan couldn’t have been made much earlier because the spaces where the work is to be shown didn’t exist until about a year and a half ago.

Simon--a founder of the County Museum of Art who has had an on-again, off-again relationship with it for years--initiated the idea for the loan several months ago, according to museum director Earl A. Powell. Once the plan was agreed upon, curator Stephanie Barron selected the pieces to be shown at LACMA, and Kerry Brougher chose those for MOCA. They based their decisions on their own museum’s holdings, choosing works to complement their collections.

Among pieces to be shown at the County Museum of Art are Sam Francis’ expansive “Basel Mural” (1956-58), Roy Lichtenstein’s “Big Modern Painting” (1967), Claes Oldenburg’s “Giant Soft Ketchup Bottle” (1967) and an oil by Richard Diebenkorn called “Berkeley No. 24” (1954). The new installation will also offer Minimal sculpture by Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Robert Morris and assemblage by George Herms and Bruce Connor.

The Simon pieces will be on display on the second floor of the museum’s Robert O. Anderson Building along with a new installation including recently acquired additions to the county museum’s collection. Powell said the loan is “long-term”--probably a year, but it has no definite closing date.

The Museum of Contemporary Art will use its South Gallery for its Simon loans, from an unspecified date late next month “probably until the end of the year,” according to press officer Barbara Kraft. MOCA’s list of loans is not final, she said, but it will include at least 13 pieces. Two are series: a suite of 14 drawings by Diebenkorn and 70 “Brillo Boxes” by Andy Warhol.

Other highlights are Lichtenstein’s “Long Modern Sculpture,” a brass piece made in 1969; Ed Ruscha’s 1966 painting, “Annie Poured From Maple Syrup,” and three works by Robert Irwin including a seminal 1962-63 painting.

The loans have no significant financial impact, according to Powell. As is usual in loan agreements, the borrowing institution pays transportation and includes the borrowed works of art in its blanket insurance policy.