Displaying items by tag: William S. Paley

NeueHouse, a members-only workspace collective in New York’s Flatiron district, announced that it will open a Los Angeles outpost in early 2015. The flagship West Coast location will be located in the historic Columbia Square CBS Radio Building and Studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The six-story structure was designed by the modernist architect William Lescaze, a pioneer of the International Style, in 1938 for CBS CEO William S. Paley.

In addition to providing work spaces for creative professionals, NeueHouse, which opened in New York in May 2013, collects and exhibits contemporary art, hosts screenings, and organizes press conferences and panel discussions.

On March 15, the Museum of Modern Art’s William S. Paley Collection will go on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. “A Taste for Modernism” presents 62 works that cover all of the pivotal movements that defined the art world between 1880 and 1940. The exhibition features works by 24 major artists including Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, and Francis Bacon. The William S. Paley Collection has been on a North American tour since 2012. The Crystal Bridges Museum will be the last venue to host the exhibition before it returns to MoMA.

Highlights from the exhibition include two works by Cézanne, which Paley acquired from the artist’s son; eight works by Picasso that trace his artistic evolution over the first three decades of the 20th century, including “Boy Leading a Horse” from his Rose period, the Cubist painting “An Architect’s Table,” and the collage-inspired composition “Still Life with Guitar”; Gauguin’s “The Seed of the Areoi,” which was inspired by the artist’s trips to Tahiti; and realist landscapes by Edward Hopper.

William S. Paley, the media mogul who built the CBS broadcasting empire, was an important art collector and philanthropist. Paley began collecting in the 1930s and had a particular fondness for French modernist movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, and Post-Impressionism. Paley played a major role in establishing MoMA as one of the most significant institutions in the world and he fulfilled various roles at the museum including patron, trustee, president, and board chairman from 1937 until his death in 1999.

“A Taste for Modernism” will remain on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art through July 7.

The Museum of Modern Art’s William S. Paley collection is currently on view at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. A Taste for Modernism presents 62 works that cover all of the pivotal movements that defined the art world during the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. The exhibition features works by 24 major artists including Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), and Francis Bacon (1909-1922). The William S. Paley collection has been on a North American tour since 2012 and the Portland Museum of Art is the only venue in New England that the exhibition will visit.

Highlights from the exhibition include two works by Cézanne, which Paley acquired from the artist’s son; eight works by Picasso that trace his artistic evolution over the first three decades of the 20^th century including Boy Leading a Horse (1905-06) from his Rose Period, the Cubist painting An Architect’s Table (1912), and the collage-inspired composition Still Life with Guitar (1920); Gaugin’s The Seed of the Areoi (1892), which was inspired by the artist’s trips to Tahiti; and Edward Hopper’s (1882-1967) realist landscapes.

William S. Paley (1901-1999), the media mogul responsible for building the CBS broadcasting empire, was an important art collector and philanthropist during the 20th century. Paley began collecting in the 1930s and took a particular liking to French modernist movements including Fauvism, Cubism, and Post-Impressionism. Paley played a major role in cementing the Museum of Modern Art as one of the most significant institutions in the world. MoMA was founded in 1929 and Paley fulfilled various roles at the museum including patron, trustee, president, and board chairman from 1937 until his death.

A Taste for Modernism will be on view at the Portland Museum of Art through September 8, 2013. It will them travel to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (October 10, 2013-January 5, 2013) and The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas (February-April, 2014).

San Francisco has recently hired its very own art detective and announced a moratorium on public art donations to the city, all in response to claims that portions of a $90 million art collection have gone missing from the city's collection, according to a California Watch article. 

A Civil Grand Jury report released last month admonished the San Francisco Arts Commission for mismanaging the city's valuables after it discovered that portions of the 4,000-piece public art collection were nowhere to be found. The jury put a spotlight on the Commission's inventory practices, stating that the city's art remains only partially counted and exposed to neglect.

Just how large the missing portions are is unknown, but a Bay Citizen article from 2011 cites a few concrete examples of the city's loss, stating that 141 items from a 1972 acquisition of 496 pieces meant to be housed in San Francisco General hospital have yet to be located and 19 of the city's 58 pieces of modernist jewelry are tentatively missing.

The current public art collection consists of sculptures and monuments as well as 2,500 paintings and other movable works that have spent time on the facades of public buildings. With items ranging in value from Edvard Munch's lithographs to local artisan craft works, it is a vast inventory of works that has grown since the initial 1969 Art Enrichment Ordinance that mandated two percent of public works contracts be allocated toward public art. The arts commission still has sufficient funds to add to the already massive collection, yet the collection has only two staff members in charge of tending to its growth and maintenance. This, according to the Civil Grand Jury's report, may be a reason why a significant portion of the collection has gone missing.