The Up and Down World of L.A. Art Museums : Art: Donations of artworks are on the rise, but both LACMA and MOCA are coping with drops in membership and attendance.

By SUZANNE MUCHNIC

Jan. 20, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES ART WRITER

As the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art close the books on 1993 and get on with the new year, they find themselves in an equivocal position in terms of their relationship to the public. On one hand, the museums are toting up a generous array of art gifts. But on the other hand, access to both institutions has been restricted, probably contributing to losses of attendance and membership.

The 1993 art gifts, valued at a total of about $15 million at LACMA and around $10 million at MOCA, can be explained in part by a revision in the federal income tax law that encourages collectors to donate art rather than sell it. The change reverts to the time-honored system of allowing deductions of the appreciated value of gifts of art, rather than merely the purchase price, as provided in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

LACMA’s most spectacular art gift in 1993 came from Lucille Ellis Simon, who completed her donation of “Swineherd, Brittany,” an 1888 landscape by Paul Gauguin. (It’s common practice for donors to spread particularly valuable gifts over several years, for tax purposes.) The museum declined to disclose the value of the Gauguin, whose major works have brought up to $24 million at auction.

Among other important donations to LACMA are Julian and Joanne Ganz’s partial gift of Fitz Hugh Lane’s 19th-Century painting “Boston Harbor” and Max Palevsky’s donation of 42 pieces of Arts and Crafts furniture and accessories. Two ancient Iranian objects, a drinking horn and a Sassanian bowl decorated with a royal portrait, were donated anonymously.

At MOCA, by far the most valuable gift received in 1993 was artist Sam Francis’ donation of 10 of his paintings, according to chief curator Paul Schimmel. Collectors also were generous to the museum, Schimmel said, noting David Melnick’s gift of Ellsworth Kelly’s 1974 sculpture “Curve IV” and Stuart and Judy Spence’s donation of works by Douglas Huebler, Sophie Calleand Erika Rothenberg, among many other gifts. One important trend in the museum’s burgeoning collection is the addition of room-size installations, Schimmel said. Five large, multi-part works--by Renee Green, Andrea Zittel, Roni Horn, Bruce Nauman and Gerhard Merz--were among last year’s gifts to MOCA.

But while the issue of tax-deductible art gifts appears to have been stabilized, questions remain about public access to the two museums.

Reacting to a $2-million loss of county funding in 1992, LACMA initiated a schedule of rotating gallery closures on weekdays. Last year, after an additional county budget cut of $1.6 million, museum officials closed the entire museum on Tuesdays in addition to Mondays.

The direct effect of the closures on attendance and membership is unknown because many factors contribute to fluctuations. But the museum’s membership has fallen from a high of 90,002 in 1988-89 to 68,731 in 1992-93. Annual attendance has dropped from 1.6 million in 1991-92 (when “Splendors of Mexico” attracted large crowds) to 1 million in 1992-93. The museum estimates attendance for the fiscal year ending June of this year will be 855,000.

All of LACMA’s galleries will be open during the exhibition “Picasso and the Weeping Women,” scheduled for Feb. 18-May 1. But the former six-days-a-week, full-gallery schedule will not be reinstated until the county provides money to do so, according to LACMA press officer Sarah Gallop. The museum saves a total of about $600,000 a year by reducing its operations, she said.

Talks about the museum’s funding from the county are under way, but nothing has been resolved, according to Robert F. Maguire, president of LACMA’s board of trustees.

Meanwhile at MOCA, the museum’s popular Temporary Contemporary facility in Little Tokyo has been closed since June, 1992, to accommodate the construction of First Street North, a planned mixed-use, public/private development on city land surrounding the Temporary Contemporary. The museum was expected to remain closed for 18 months to two years while excavation and initial construction took place, but almost 20 months have passed and the project has yet to win final City Council approval, much less break ground.

The project, which includes a plan to consolidate city offices scattered throughout downtown, has been delayed by a stale economy and a change in administration, which prompted the City Council to explore whether buying and renovating an existing building would be less costly than erecting the new structure. But a study ultimately found that the new construction would be less expensive than using available, conveniently located buildings.

City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie recommended approval of First Street North and the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee on Dec. 7 voted a unanimous endorsement, subject to financing. The Budget and Finance Committee is expected to vote on the project Tuesday. If approved, the project would then go to the full Council for a final decision.

But in the meantime, a proposal has been made to the city to consider the Los Angeles Times building as an alternative to the First Street North Project. The Times building was not among the structures included in the study.

Developer Michael Barker said he expects First Street North to proceed because he has a contract with the city and “the economic advantages are very compelling.” But museum officials and City Councilman Joel Wachs, who serves as a MOCA trustee, won’t hazard a guess on the future of the project.

“I would love to see this matter resolved one way or the other,” Wachs said, echoing the frustration of MOCA officials who have watched First Street North get mired in controversy while two-thirds of their exhibition space remains closed.

MOCA’s membership fell from a high of 25,000 in 1986 (when the museum’s Grand Avenue building opened) to 13,000 in 1991, but it has remained at that figure for the last three years, even with the closure of the Temporary Contemporary. Attendance has fallen from 350,000 in 1991 (when both the TC and the Grand Avenue facilities were open) to 300,000 in 1993. Los Angeles’ economy and civil unrest likely have contributed to the loss, according to Kathleen Bartels, MOCA’s director of administration.

Current plans call for re-opening the TC this fall if the development is not approved and for delaying the opening until next spring if the plan goes forward. The spring opening would coincide with the debut of a major conceptual art exhibition, “1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art,” said MOCA Director Richard Koshalek.

MOCA officials have been accused of closing the TC prematurely to save money--about $500,000 a year--but they deny that charge. “We believed that First Street North was about ready to begin. Based on the scenario at the time, it would have been ridiculous for us to try to keep the TC open,” said Bartels, noting that the museum’s utilities had been cut off.

Developer Barker agrees that the museum acted in good faith. He plans to help the museum construct a temporary entrance on Alameda or First Street if the project is approved but construction is delayed. Excavation will take place next to the Central Avenue door, but that entrance will be restored, he said.

If First Street North becomes a reality, the Temporary Contemporary and the Japanese American National Museum will be major cultural components of the project, Barker said. In accordance with the city’s Percent for Art program, which requires that 1% of construction costs for public projects be spent on art, each museum will receive about $1.5 million, he said.

LACMA AND MOCA: More Gifts, Fewer Fans

Although federal tax laws have helped create a good atmosphere for donations of art to the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, reduced operations ad hours have probably translated into losses of attendance and membership at both institutions. Some figures on gains and losses over the years: ART GIFTS : LACMA

1993: $15 million

1992: $17 million

1991*: $38 million

1990: $7.5 million ART GIFTS : MOCA

1993: $10 million

1992: $4 million

1991*: $10 million

1990: $2 million

*Special tax break fueled giving MEMBERSHIP: LACMA**

1992-93: 68,731

1991-92: 82,433

1990-91: 89,860