June 22, 1957
Los Angeles
Are you kidding me? Is that Van Gogh’s "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" … on the ground? …at LAX?
Why it certainly is.
The
Times described the exhibit at Barnsdall Park as the first major
showing of Van Gogh’s works in Southern California. The show, which ran
from July 3 to Aug. 4, 1957, was presented by the Municipal Arts
Department in cooperation with the Wildenstein Galleries of New York.
The
show featured 38 paintings, drawings and prints by Van Gogh, The Times
said, including "The Zouave" (Van Gogh did several and it’s unclear
which one was in Los Angeles), "L’Arlesienne," "La Berceuse"
and something titled "Cypress and the Flowering Tree" that I cannot
readily identify. Almost as an afterthought, The Times mentioned that
the exhibit also featured works by Degas, Gaugin and Renoir.
Now
if you thought it was scary to have an original Van Gogh out in the
smoggy air of 1957 Los Angeles, take a look at the gallery, which
appears to be some sort of converted greenhouse. Tell me that’s not a glass
ceiling. Tell me that’s not sunlight beating directly down on the
paintings. Please.
Whew, it’s not.
But the gallery is still not great.
According to a letter to The Times complaining about the show, the
exhibit was staged in a building with a translucent ceiling that made
it miserably warm for the viewers–so much for climate control.
Aha.
A little research shows that the gallery was designed in 1953 by Frank
Lloyd Wright for a 1954 exhibit of his architectural drawings and models, and erected next to
Hollyhock House. It was later suggested that the translucent roof on
the building be covered with aluminum paint to reduce the heat. The
building was demolished in the late 1960s. The current Municipal Art Gallery, desighed by Stephens and Wehmueller, opened in 1971.
The Van Gogh show was extremely popular, with visitation averaging
1,650 a day. The exhibit was kept open to 10 p.m. to accommodate the
crowds, with 3,979 attending on the final day. Total visitation was
59,061, according to Municipal Arts Department Director Kenneth Ross,
shown in the top photo at left with guard Gerald Roggeman.
ps. The first version of "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" sold in 1990 for $82.5 million. Its whereabouts are unknown.
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