Displaying items by tag: contributions

With his dark eyes and wavy bronze hair, a monumental head of “Eros,” the Greek god of love, is destined to be a signature attraction at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where it was temporarily installed this week.

The museum is asking the public to help pay for the $1 million sculpture by Polish-born Igor Mitoraj in celebration of the museum’s 100th birthday this year.

It has already raised more than $300,000 and is hoping to raise the rest in contributions of any size — including pennies from kids. There will be donation boxes in the museum, a dedicated website, cellphone links and special events during a gala weekend June 26-28.

When Merton Simpson (1928-2013), a collector and dealer of African tribal art, passed away on March 9, 2013 he left behind a collection of museum-quality works said to be worth millions. Despite his illustrious holdings, Simpson’s family did not have enough money to give him a proper burial and his body is currently being held in a funeral home in Charleston, SC. Simpson’s son, Merton Simpson Jr., has started an email campaign asking friends of his father for contributions so that a proper funeral can be arranged.  

Simpson’s care and art collection have been continuously prickly issues for his family with accusations of mismanagement and exploitation flying freely. Simpson, a celebrated abstract expressionist painter, was a pioneering champion of African art in the United States. Sadly, his remarkable archive and renowned collection have become a source of conflict between his friends, family, and staff members and most of his holdings are being detained in the Manhattan gallery, which he owned.

A will from 2011 was filed in Manhattan last week for Simpson naming his son, Merton Jr., as an executor and dividing most of his assets between his two sons, his brother, and a nephew. Simpson’s family is still waiting for the court to deem the 2011 will legally valid and to name an executor.    

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is ramping up endowment efforts after a wave of financial and administrative troubles left the institution’s future murky. Museum officials announced on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 that the amount of promised donations would raise MOCA’s endowment to $60 million, the highest in the institution’s 34-year history.        

Jeffrey Soros, the president of MOCA’s board, and trustee Eugenio Lopez, a prominent art collector, are helming the new fundraising campaign known as MOCA Independence. The goal of the campaign is to raise $100 million, which will allow the museum to continue operating as an independent institution devoted to contemporary art.  

MOCA’s troubles began in 2008 when overspending and dwindling investments left the museum with an endowment of a few million dollars. Eli Broad, a billionaire art collector and one of MOCA’s founding board members, gave the museum a second chance when he donated $15 million to the institution; Broad also pledged $15 million to match outsider contributions. While Broad’s generosity helped keep the museum afloat, MOCA struggled to find donors that would match his pledge.

MOCA’s troubles prompted partnership offers from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The museum declined both offers in favor of maintaining its independence.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has offered to acquire L.A.’s struggling Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). MOCA has been at the center of a number of controversies after the museum’s chief curator, Paul Schimmel, left the institution in June 2012 after 22 years on the job. Critics have bashed the museum for becoming too celebrity focused and all of the artists who once served on the museum’s board including John Baldessari (b. 1931), Barbara Kruger (b. 1945), and Ed Ruscha (b. 1937), have resigned after disagreeing with the institution’s new direction.

LACMA Director, Michael Govan, offered to raise $100 million for MOCA’s two locations in exchange for the acquisition. LACMA made a similar offer to MOCA, which is currently helmed by former New York gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch, back in 2008. LACMA officials believe that the merger would strengthen both institutions and provide MOCA with stability and strong leadership.

MOCA’s contributions, grants, and operating profits have all declined in recent years.