Lannan Board Votes to Forgo Art Collecting : Finances: Foundation earmarks those funds for a charitable program to benefit ‘America’s poorest people.’

The Lannan Foundation--a $150-million nonprofit organization that supports visual art, literature and charitable causes--has terminated its art collecting program.

In a surprise decision made official earlier this week, the foundation’s board of directors voted to shift the $2 million to $3 million that had been allocated annually for purchasing art to a charitable program for the poor.

“It won’t have a big impact on the art market,” foundation president J. Patrick Lannan Jr. said of the board’s action. “In the great scheme of things, it’s a minuscule amount of money. But if we use our resources carefully we can make a difference to a few people, so we are going to try to do that.” The funds will go to a grant-making program to benefit “America’s poorest people,” he said.

The news is a blow to Los Angeles’ art community, which has taken pride in the foundation’s growing collection. “You can’t argue with charitable money that goes for good purposes, whatever those purposes may be,” said Henry T. Hopkins, head of UCLA’s art department and galleries. “But this is an unfortunate loss at this time, when the art world is so fragile and collecting has diminished. The Lannan Foundation seemed to be one of the few constant elements.”

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The foundation was formed in 1960 by Lannan’s father, J. Patrick Lannan, a longtime director of International Telephone and Telegraph and an exuberant collector of contemporary art. After his death in 1983, his son took charge of the foundation and in 1986 moved its headquarters from Lake Worth, Fla., to Los Angeles.

Four years later, the foundation opened a 4,500-square-foot exhibition space and a 3,000-square-foot sculpture garden in Marina del Rey.

The foundation will maintain its existing 1,750-piece collection of contemporary art, as well as its exhibition program and grants to other art institutions for exhibitions, installations and performances, Lannan said. But plans to expand the exhibition space have been dropped and the foundation has made its final purchases of contemporary art.

The decision to put more money into charity was the result of ongoing board discussions about the foundation’s priorities, Lannan said. “We were looking for a site to build and expand the foundation, but we also have been considering other areas where we could do and should do more. Rather than go ahead with plans for expansion and continue collecting, we decided to increase our funding to charity.”

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Lannan said the shift in allocations is not the first step in phasing out the entire visual art program. Neither does the move indicate a change of direction, he said. “Although they are not as well-known as the visual art program, we have always had literary and charitable programs.”

Professing a firm commitment to the art program, Lannan said it will continue to be the foundation’s largest concern, even without collecting. He declined to outline the budget, but said the foundation spends 6.5% of the total value of its assets, or about $9.75 million, each year.

Lannan’s father began collecting in the 1950s and developed a passion for the art of his time, particularly abstract painting. He sought out and often bought the works of emerging artists who would become major figures. Since his death, the foundation has followed his pattern of collecting while adding new artists.

The collection includes large bodies of work by Morris Louis, Robert Irwin, Wallace Berman, Gerhard Richter and Mike Kelley, along with such unique treasures as Edward Kienholz’s assemblage portrait of curator Walter Hopps, “Walter Hopps Hopps Hopps,” and sculptor Tom Otterness’ masterpiece, “The Tables,” which portrays an apocalyptic fantasy on three steel picnic tables.

Many of these purchases have been made at the behest of Lisa Lyons, an internationally known curator and author who has directed the foundation’s art programs since 1989. “The termination of the Lannan Foundation’s collecting program represents a tremendous loss to the art world,” she said. As to whether she plans to retain her post or resign, Lyons said: “I’m considering my options.”

Voicing support for Lyons, Lannan said, “None of this has anything to do with Lisa. We have the highest regard for her. I understand her frustration because curators are trained to build collections, but we are doing everything we can to encourage her to stay.”

In addition to its exhibitions and grant-making programs, the foundation’s future visual art activities are likely to include publishing books of art criticism and making a greater effort to place works from the collection on long-term loan at other institutions so that they can gain a wider audience, Lannan said.