LACMA: A Star Is Born, Spotted Crossing Wilshire Boulevard

I don’t go to press previews for exhibition openings, since spinning is wasted on me. I’d rather visit in stealth, chameleon that I am. But the preview for the new LACMA — more precisely the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s David Geffen Galleries — was exceptional. The $750 million concrete, curvaceous space, with 347,000 square feet overall and 110,000 square feet for galleries, has transformed one of our great civic and encyclopedic museums into an array of boutique galleries, elegant and gorgeous. The new building is three football fields long, sweeping from the La Brea Tar Pits across Wilshire Boulevard not far from the Petersen Automotive Museum. The Screen Actors Guild and the Academy Museum — as in Oscar — are a block away. So is LA Fitness. There are only so many Hollywood parts for blobs. In more ways than mere location, the new LACMA is very L.A.

The architect, Peter Zumthor, who’s Swiss, 83 next week, and Michael Govan, LACMA’s director, together created a building that spans ages, looking primeval and at the same time fresh and glamorous. I didn’t think LACMA would ever get it done.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

I don’t go to press previews for exhibition openings, since spinning is wasted on me. I’d rather visit in stealth, chameleon that I am. But the preview for the new LACMA — more precisely the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s David Geffen Galleries — was exceptional. The $750 million concrete, curvaceous space, with 347,000 square feet overall and 110,000 square feet for galleries, has transformed one of our great civic and encyclopedic museums into an array of boutique galleries, elegant and gorgeous. The new building is three football fields long, sweeping from the La Brea Tar Pits across Wilshire Boulevard not far from the Petersen Automotive Museum. The Screen Actors Guild and the Academy Museum — as in Oscar — are a block away. So is LA Fitness. There are only so many Hollywood parts for blobs. In more ways than mere location, the new LACMA is very L.A.

The architect, Peter Zumthor, who’s Swiss, 83 next week, and Michael Govan, LACMA’s director, together created a building that spans ages, looking primeval and at the same time fresh and glamorous. I didn’t think LACMA would ever get it done.