Benefit set for L.A. art patron

Twenty well-known artists have donated works to a Bonhams & Butterfields auction to benefit Morgan Thomas, a former Los Angeles art dealer and founder of the nonprofit Foundation for Art Resources.

The sale -- to be simulcast in Los Angeles and San Francisco at 2 p.m. Monday -- is expected to raise from $50,000 to $75,000 to help Thomas pay expenses she incurred after she was injured in an automobile accident eight years ago.

Thomas’ longtime colleagues Connie Lewallen, Claire Copley and Dorit Cypis organized the benefit, soliciting works by artists such as John Baldessari, Peter Alexander, Tom Lawson, David Amico and Jim Shaw. The donations will go on the block at the end of a larger sale of California contemporary art.

Thomas became a vital force in Southern California’s art community in the 1970s when she operated galleries in Santa Monica. With Lewallen and Copley, she established the Foundation for Art Resources in 1977 to support artists’ projects.