Norton Funds Grants Foundation

Computer guru and contemporary art collector Peter Norton has established a foundation designed to donate about $150,000 to $200,000 worth of art this year to arts institutions. The Peter Norton Family Foundation will seek out and lend support to “interesting, potentially innovation creative activities,” according to a press release. A formal announcement of the new nonprofit, grant-making foundation will be made at a private party this afternoon hosted by Norton and his wife, Eileen, at their home in Santa Monica.

Norton, a 45-year-old entrepreneur who made a fortune with his computer software business, Peter Norton Computing, has not endowed the foundation yet. He was out of the country and unavailable for comment at press time, but an article in the May issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that “he could put anywhere from $2 million to $10 million into its coffers when he takes his company public, probably within the next five years. He created the foundation in part to shelter the anticipated income from such a move.”

Monies for art will be disbursed through two grant-giving programs, a Curator’s Grant Program that invites curators to choose works to be donated, and an Artworks Donation Program that gives works selected by Norton to institutions of his choice. The two programs have already benefited three local museums.

One of the first two Curator’s Grants for 1989 was awarded to Mary Jane Jacob, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, who chose Christian Boltanski’s “Autel de Lycee Chases,” a mixed-media piece from MOCA’s recent exhibition of the French artist’s work. Made of six blurry black-and-white photographs of Jewish high school students’ faces, tin biscuit boxes, clip-on lamps and electric wiring, the large wall piece is part of Boltanski’s “Lycee Chases” series, based on a 1931 photograph of Jewish students in Vienna. The second Curator’s Grant went to Paul Schimmel, chief curator at the Newport Harbor Art Museum, who selected James Turrell’s “Rondo,” a room-size installation of natural and fluorescent lighting behind two walls that can be set up in various configurations.

The amounts of the two grants have not been disclosed, in deference to the museums’ policies of not revealing prices of donated artworks. Each institution was given a grant for an unspecified amount, which covered the purchase price of the selected artwork and a balance to be applied to additional acquisitions.

The first recipient of the Artworks Donation Program is the California Afro-American Museum, which received Robert Colescott’s painting, “A Stroll Through the Neighborhood.” The 6x7-foot oil is a social commentary on the difference between people who live in depressing neighborhoods and those who report on their situation. The foundation has also acquired Barbara Bloom’s “Esprit de l’Escalier” for future placement. The mixed-media installation--a partitioned room containing such objects as photographs of UFOs, a hologram and suspended white hats--was shown at the Venice Biennale last summer.

The Norton foundation also supports charities that provide assistance to the homeless and AIDS treatment.