LACMA Will Remove Trustee’s Collection

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has reached an agreement to remove the art collection of one of its trustees.

The collections of Arthur Gilbert will be removed by Gilbert in June because the museum was unable to accommodate Gilbert’s requirements for additional space for his collections of decorative art objects, Andrea L. Rich, the museum’s president and chief executive officer, said Thursday.

The Gilbert Collections, which include gold boxes, silver, micro-mosaics, gold and objets d’art, will remain on view at the museum through June 9. The future of the collection will be announced at a later date.

“We just couldn’t come to an agreement of the appropriate level of space requirements with regard to his collection and the expansion of his collection,” Rich said. “We have agreed to disagree. . . . He was getting into a spot where he wanted to have a permanent understanding as to the dispensation of his works.”

Rich, who assumed her post in November, said that museum administrators are in the process of re-evaluating museum priorities. “I wish I had all the space in the world, and all the money in the world, to accommodate all the great collections of art in the world. We don’t.”

Gilbert was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Rich called the decision “very amicable” and described Gilbert as a “dear friend.” She said she hopes Gilbert, a real estate investor who has been a member of the board of trustees since 1977, will remain on the board, and has had no indication that Gilbert plans to resign. Gilbert recently funded an annual classical music concert series at the museum in memory of his late wife, Rosalinde.

Much of the Gilbert collection has been on permanent display in the museum’s Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries. Since 1973, the museum has organized several special exhibitions of the Gilbert holdings, including “The Gilbert Collections: Monumental Silver and the Art of Mosaics” and “Gold Boxes.”

In an October 1993 Times article, Gilbert is quoted as saying that his role as a trustee is “to build the best collections I can.” He also expressed his distaste for modern art, saying, “I think everything in the Anderson Building is junk”-- referring to LACMA’s wing for contemporary and modern art. In the same story, Gilbert expressed pleasure that his decorative objects had found a home at the museum, even though some unnamed curators had failed to recognize their importance.

At that time, Gilbert said that he planned to give the museum a collection of gold snuff boxes--provided the museum met his conditions. Rich confirmed that the snuff boxes were among the items discussed for addition to the collections. She said Gilbert keeps many art objects at home as well as displayed in other locations.