Museum of Art receives $1bn donation

[haikuman]

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has received a $1bn (£650m) donation of Cubist art from cosmetics executive Leonard Lauder.

The heir to the Estee Lauder fortune has pledged 78 works - considered one of the foremost collections of Cubism in the world.

It includes pieces from Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Fernand Leger, amassed over 37 years.

Museum director Thomas Campbell said the gift was "truly transformational".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22090326

[Lew Zealand]

[Acer]

Hope he gave some bucks to build a new building to show it all, because otherwise it's a

[SteveG]

It's just a bunch of paintings, not really 'a billion dollars'.
I'll bet his Mom, Estee* picked them up in Paris for a few hundred bucks a piece during the Depression. Does Lennie get a Billion Dollar tax deduction for this?






*born Josephine Esther Mentzer in Corona, Queens, attended Newtown High School in Elmhurst.

[August West]

Philistine!

[Paul F.]

I think at this point in history, were I in his place, I would have put them in a pile and burned them instead... rather than put up with the bunch of ungrateful bastiges like Acer and Steve G.

[$tevie]

Lauder is a long-time art collector and benefactor of museums.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/26/arts/w...wanted=all&src=pm
This is his personal collection, amassed over four decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/...0#/#coverv
He has in the past donated his collection of more than twenty thousand Japanese postcards to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/asia/art-...e-postcard

This is a renowned collection and a very nice gift to the Museum.

[$tevie]

Acer wrote:
Hope he gave some bucks to build a new building to show it all, because otherwise it's a (white elephant)

The Museum's board of directors has to approve gifts like this, and they have, so I am going to assume that they know how to run their own museum.

Lauder set up a $22 million endowment some time ago for Modern art at the Museum, an amount which is nothing to sneer at.

It's a pledge, btw, the paintings aren't going anywhere quite yet.

[Lemon Drop]

$tevie wrote:
Lauder is a long-time art collector and benefactor of museums.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/26/arts/w...wanted=all&src=pm
This is his personal collection, amassed over four decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/...0#/#coverv
He has in the past donated his collection of more than twenty thousand Japanese postcards to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/asia/art-...e-postcard

This is a renowned collection and a very nice gift to the Museum.

agree. MOMA is awesome - wish I could get to NYC this spring for a visit.

[cbelt3]

That's very cool. I'm always glad to see people who collect art because they appreciate it then willing to share it with others.

Remember the 'art as an investment' idea that led to people buying art that was then locked up in a vault someplace ? Disgusting !