The Modern and Contemporary Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was founded in 1961 by a small group of collectors whose aim was to stimulate, encourage, and supplement a program for modern and contemporary art at the museum.
The mission of the Modern and Contemporary Art Council is to support the acquisition of contemporary art for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; to support the research and professional activities of the curatorial staff of the departments of Modern and Contemporary Art; and to provide membership activities that are primarily educational and serve to develop and enhance an informed audience for, and community of collectors of, modern and contemporary art.
The Modern and Contemporary Art Council implements its goals in the following ways:
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Modern and Contemporary Art Council Fund
© Chirs Burden
Each year a substantial part of the Council's budget is allocated for the purchase of art for the Museum's Modern and Contemporary Art departments. Past acquisitions have included works by such significant artists as Christan Boltanski, Lee Bontecou, Jonathan Borofsky, Chris Burden, Sam Francis, Leon Golub, Philip Guston, Rebecca Horn, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Anselm Kiefer, Sol LeWitt, Robert Longo, Lari Pittman, Ken Price, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Joel Shapiro, Peter Shelton, David Smith, Frank Stella, and Bill Viola. Emerging Los Angeles artists are brought into the permanent collection through purchases made annually by the Council's Art Here and Now program. Thus, a large and valuable part of the permanent collection of the museum has been acquired due to the efforts of the Modern and Contemporary Art Council.
Public lectures arranged by the Modern and Contemporary Art Council have brought outstanding artists, critics, and museum curators to our community. The Council offers its members a continuing series of informal meetings with distinguished personalities in the art world. These meetings, which are generally held in members' homes, local galleries or the museum, take place about once a month. Other membership programs include visits to artists' studios, lecture series led by well-known art historians, and lively weekend programs combining educational and social activities. Out-of-town art tours for Council members are undertaken regularly with curators from the Modern and Contemporary Art departments.
The Modern and Contemporary Art Council enjoys a decades-long history of support for local art and artists. Between 1963 and 1986, the Council presented dozens of purchase awards through its annual Young Talent Award. Building upon that historic commitment, in 1987 the Young Talent Award was replaced by the new Art Here and Now program, providing increased funds specifically dedicated to the purchase of work by emergent Southern California artists.