Masterpieces of European Painting from the Norton Simon Museum
February 10 through May 10, 2009
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Edgar Degas,
Dancers in the Wings, 1880, pastel and tempera on paper mounted to paperboard,
Norton Simon Art Foundation |
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In 1954 Norton Simon bought paintings to decorate his home in
Hancock Park, Los Angeles. His first acquisitions were Impressionist
and Post-Impressionist works by Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, and
Cézanne. Simon went on to assemble a private art collection that
would come to be recognized as one of the finest in the world. In the
1960s he expanded his focus as a collector and began purchasing
Old Masters and modern art. Simon’s honeymoon in India in 1971
with his second wife, the actress Jennifer Jones, sparked his
interest in Indian and Southeast Asian art — a passion reflected in
his burgeoning collection.
The Norton Simon Foundation and the Norton Simon Art Foundation,
established in 1952 and 1954, purchased works of art and made
them available for exhibitions around the country, creating what
Simon called a “Museum without walls.” Chief among The Norton
Simon Foundation’s acquisitions was Duveen Brothers’ New York
inventory in 1964, which included Old Master paintings, sculpture,
furniture, and tapestries, as well as the library and the Seventy-ninth
Street town house in which all were housed.
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Shiva the Bull-Rider,
c. 1000, bronze,
India, Tamil Nadu,
The Norton Simon Foundation |
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In 1974 Simon assumed management of the financially troubled Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, assimilating its collections with
his own into the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, which
opened the following year. Simon would oversee the museum until
his death in 1993, at the age of eighty-six.
Today, exceptional examples of Western art ranging from the
fourteenth through the twentieth century, modern and contemporary
works, and superb Asian art are housed in the Norton Simon Museum’s
elegant building. This distinctive structure, with curvilinear exterior
walls, was designed by architects Thornton Ladd and John Kelsey
and opened in 1969. From 1996 to 1999 the architect Frank Gehry,
working with executive architect Greg Walsh, renovated the interior,
creating a tranquil environment in which to contemplate this extraordinary collection.
Norton Simon Museum,
photograph by Elon Schoenholz
Principal funding for the exhibition is provided by Melvin R. Seiden in honor of Colin B. Bailey. Major corporate support is provided by Fiduciary Trust Company International. Additional support is generously provided by the Thaw Charitable Trust, Mr. and Mrs. John P. Birkelund, and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. |
