Critic’s Notebook: Troublesome signs in LACMA’s risky reorganization plan
LA TimesBaroque paintings made in Europe and Latin America hang together in “To Rome and Back,” a permanent collection show at LACMA. LACMA’s European collections include Continental and British art produced from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, while its American holdings continue to the start of World War II. About 130 objects are on view, drawn from LACMA’s collections of European painting and sculpture, decorative arts, prints and drawings, Latin American art, costumes and textiles. Lehmbeck hasn’t organized a major museum show, a lack of experience that surely hampered “To Rome and Back.” But she is the curatorial point person in the planned reorganization of LACMA’s entire permanent collections for the new Zumthor building. LACMA is now operating less like an encyclopedia of historical knowledge than like one of the nation’s 11 kunsthalles – non-collecting “art halls” that focus on recent talent.
History of this topic
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