[caption id="attachment_9076" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="David Geffen, Lynda Resnick, Michael Govan. Photo by John Sciulli/Berliner Studio / BEImages."][/caption]
LACMA opened its new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion on September 25 as part of its Transformation expansion project, and the Museum allowed the public to browse the exhibits in the new 45,000 square-ft space for free. As arts philanthropists and generous patrons of LACMA, the Pavilion’s namesakes Lynda and Stewart Resnick were pleased to contribute to “the cultural vitality of a major twenty-first century art capital,” and their $45 million donation to Transformation surely did just that. The Pavilion was designed by Renzo Piano, and with its emphasis on natural lighting, glass and stone walls and ceilings, and continuing the red color scheme consistent with the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum to the North, it connects with the rest of LACMA while having a uniquely open, airy quality. Though it is just one story, the Pavilion is the biggest “purpose-built, naturally lit, open-plan museum space in the world.”
The three exhibits initiating the exhibition pavilion are all very different, showing the Pavilion’s versatility, not to mention its size. The first exhibit is “Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection,” which includes over 100 paintings and sculptures spanning five centuries from the Resnick’s private collection. The second is “Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico,” which presents works from the earliest civilization in Mexico, known for their giant basalt heads and carved jadeite. Finally, the last exhibit is “Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915,” which displays 160 garments from the Renaissance to WWI, some of which have never been on view before.
Stay with Whitewall for more updates on LACMA’s Transformation – the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion was, after all, only Phase II.
[caption id="attachment_9077" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Renzo Piano. © Patrick McMullan."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_9078" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Gelila Assefa, John Baldessari, Molly Sims. ©Patrick McMullan."][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_9079" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Stewart and Lynda Resnick. ©Patrick McMullan."][/caption]
