Name

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Address
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
CA 90036 Los Angeles
Geographical Hierarchy
Coordinates (WGS 84)
Author and Date of Entry
Virginia C. Raguin 2024
Information about the Building

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) became an institution dealing exclusively with the fine arts in 1961. Its origins, however, began in 1910 as the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. The initial displays included materials from the city’s collection, including fossil specimens excavated from Rancho La Brea, and objects from local donors, including stained glass given by Mrs. and Mrs. Vance Thompson. The museum’s subsequent transformation from a collective public institution to a world-class museum of art was in great part guided by the expertise of William Valentiner, named co-director in 1946, who developed a circle of prominent patrons including William Randolph Hearst… More

Literature

Sterne, M. H. (1980). The Passionate Eye: The Life of William R. Valentiner, Detroit.

LACMA (2003). The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, London; New York, NY: Thames & Hudson.

Levkoff, M. (2008). Hearst the Collector [exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art] Los Angeles.

Muchnic, S. (2015). LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making, San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Works related to the building