EliBroad

Where Will Eli Broad's Museum Land?

Filed under: Art, Books

All of Los Angeles wants to know where billionaire Eli Broad and his Broad Art Foundation will land. Ever since Broad decided in 2008 that he wouldn't be installing his 2,000 work contemporary art collection at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, the question of where he would establish his own museum has been up in the air. First it seemed that he might head to Beverly Hills or Santa Monica but the latest info from the LA Times seems to indicate the potential for a downtown move.

Broad's museum could end up as part of the ambitious, Frank Gehry-designed Grand Avenue project. Broad has long been a supporter of the development which would revitalize the heart of downtown's arts district with hotels, condos and retail space. Until recently Broad was a member of the committee overseeing the project on behalf of the Grand Avenue Authority but he resigned a few months ago, clearing the way for his transition into being a possible part of the project. The Grand Avenue Authority has said they will be considering a proposal from the Broad Foundation. As the LA Times points out, the project has stalled out in the face of the economic decline when the developer was unable to get a multibillion-dollar construction loan. If Broad chooses to put his museum here it will be in good company, Disney Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art and other cultural venues are located nearby. Broad, who is 76, is likely mindful of the story of another famous art collector, the late Donald Fisher who recently died without having secured plans for his museum. Broad isn't going anywhere but this museum is his legacy to the city of Los Angeles and I'm sure he is eager that it find a good home soon.

Tags: art, eli broad, EliBroad, los angeles, LosAngeles, museum

Flawed Collectors in ARTnews Top 10

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

roman abramovich Despite the large flushing sound that's accompanied the art market this year, there are still 10 collectors worth noting. In fact, ARTnews was even able to cobble together a top 200 list this year (if they went to 300, I figure I'd wind up on the list, too, given the state of the art market right now). The names in the top 10 still represent the art collecting elite, they just happen to be in much worse shape than they were at this time last year.

Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire and art addict, takes the #1 spot. It would be easy to zero in on any one of several purchases last year and call it "defining," but the man spent a few hundred million on art. The most expensive pickup was a Francis Bacon triptych which set him back almost $90 million.

Top 10 Art Collectors (according to ARTnews):

Roman Abramovich
Debra and Leon Black
Edythe L. and Eli Broad
Steven Cohen
Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis
Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
Francois Pinault
Mitchell Rales
Carlos Slim Helu
Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed bin Ali al-Thani

Okay, so you take a quick look at this list and realize that Abramovich, who requested a bailout from the Russian government, isn't the only flawed personality it contains. Steven A. Cohen, the Connecticut-based hedge fund manager, owns a dead rotting shark. While Damien Hirst's ego is built to last, his creations are more like personal computers ... planned obsolescence. Kravis, who sits atop esteemed and powerful private equity firm KKR, was not left unscathed by the current financial crisis. The precipitous drop in oil prices over the past year must have left the sheikh in a rough spot, and Slim thought he could make money by investing in a newspaper (that's just ~~fucking~~ stupid ... almost as stupid as paying $90 million for a 1970s Bacon, frankly).

Maybe we'll see some changes over the next year. I wouldn't mind writing about an unknown visionary busting into the winners circle at this time next summer. Now, all we have to do is find one.

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Tags: art, art collecting, art collection, art collector, art market, ArtCollecting, ArtCollection, ArtCollector, ArtMarket, artwork, billionaire, billionaires, carlos slim, carlos slim helu, CarlosSlim, CarlosSlimHelu, damien hirst, DamienHirst, eli broad, EliBroad, francois pinault, FrancoisPinault, henry kravis, HenryKravis, kkr, kohlberg kravis roberts, KohlbergKravisRoberts, leon black, LeonBlack, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich, russian billionaire, russian billionaires, RussianBillionaire, RussianBillionaires, steven cohen, StevenCohen

Brad Pitt Spends $1 Million At Art Basel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping, Art

My colleague Tom Johansmeyer mentioned the other day that the Art Basel exhibit in Switzerland was bracing for a slump but the art affair has had a boost from a celebrity buyer. Brad Pitt caused a stir when he showed up to check out the exhibits and spent $1 million on a new artwork to add to his collection. He bought Neo Rauch's 9-foot rainbow-coloured racetrack painting Etappe which shows a driver behind a red, Formula One-style race-car. Pitt was in good company, he was seen with billionaire art collector Eli Broad. In fact, the Daily Mail reports that Broad encouraged Pitt to buy the painting telling him that if he didn't buy it than Broad and his wite Edythe would. Also seen at the exhibition were Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and his girlfriend Daria Zhukova, designer Karl Lagerfeld and model Naomi Campbell.

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Tags: art basel, ArtBasel, brad pitt, BradPitt, eli broad, EliBroad, karl lagerfeld, KarlLagerfeld, neo rauch, NeoRauch

Eli Broad Offers $30 Million to Floundering MOCA

by Tracy Chait (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art, Big Givers

In the wake of MOCA's public outcry for help, Eli Broad has stepped up to offer $30 million to the museum. Earlier this month, Deidre Woollard reported that Broad (above with his wife Edythe) might have been planning a contemporary art museum of his own in Beverly Hills, after an acquisition spree that included pieces by Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg.

Perhaps he's refocused his efforts towards saving a contemporary art museum instead. I wrote recently about art critic Christopher's Knight's open letter to MOCA's board, ordering it to raise $25 million pronto. Looks like Broad got the memo -- though in his statement of intent in the LA Times, he urges his fellow philanthropists to take part.

"This is not a one-philanthropist town," he writes, though in the contemporary art world, the Broad name is growing awfully familiar.

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Tags: art, big givers, BigGivers, contemporary art, ContemporaryArt, eli broad, EliBroad, moca

Eli Broad Plans His Own Art Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

So maybe now we know why billionaire art collector Eli Broad was so busy at the contemporary art shows in New York last week. Bloomberg reports that Broad is interested in building a public museum in Beverly Hills, California. The news comes after a year in which he got his own building at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art but then decided not to give his collection to the museum. Broad's new museum would display works from his charitable foundation and personal collection and would hopefully open in about three years. It would be located near the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards and unseat a Starbucks. The foundation already has a headquarters and private museum in Santa Monica.

Broad's foundation is heavily contemporary with photographs by Cindy Sherman, paintings by Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol's 1986 silkscreen of the Statue of Liberty, Damien Hirst's 1994 lamb in formaldehyde, and Charles Ray's 1973 collection of 16 Kodachrome self-portraits called ``All My Clothes.'' Last week he picked up Ed Ruscha's 1969 mustard-hued ``Desire'' for $2.4 million, Donald Judd aluminum and Plexiglas sculpture for $1.1 million, a small Robert Rauschenberg painting for $2.6 million, and a Jeff Koons sculpture for $2.2 million.

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Tags: art, art museum, ArtMuseum, beverly hills, BeverlyHills, eli broad, EliBroad

Eli Broad Snaps Up Cheap Art

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Here's a sign the art market might really be in trouble, famed collector Eli Broad was one of the eager buyers at the contemporary art sale at Sotheby's last night in New York City. He's quoted in Bloomberg as calling it "a half-price sale." Perhaps he was also delighting in being right, he'd been predicting a slowdown for a while now. Broad, along with permatan and permafabulous fashion designer Valentino were two collectors hoping to get good deals on great art. It certainly worked for Broad, he picked up Ed Ruscha's 1969 ``Desire'' for $2.4 million, 40 percent under the $4 million low estimate. He also scooped up several other pieces including a Donald Judd sculpture, a Robert Rauschenberg and a Jeff Koons sculpture, some of which were for his Broad Art Foundation. That's one smart billionaire. Valentino's no slouch himself, he nabbed a couple of Warhols.

The auction was the latest in a dismal chain. The 43 lots that sold in the 63-lot auction rang up $125.1 million, not even within spitting distance of the low estimate of $202.4 million. Even worse, of those 20 unsold lots, several were guaranteed which means Sotheby's is left holding the bag on some pricey art that no one is feeling like buying right now. The top lot for the night was supposed to be Roy Lichtenstein's 1963 ``Half Face With Collar" which had a $15 to $20 million estimate. No buyer.

Still, there are always bright spots.John Currin's voluptuous ladies are selling well lately. His 1999 ``Nice `N Easy" sold for a record $5.46 million, pretty sweet considering his previous auction record of $847,500 was set at Christie's International four years ago with a painting of two men making pasta. Currin may just want to stick with painting his nubile nymphs.

Tonight we get to see how much money Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard S. Fuld Jr.'s will make off his drawings at Christie's.

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Tags: art, auction, eli broad, EliBroad, sothebys

Eli Broad Puts His Name On a Museum But Pulls His Art

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Bad news for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other institutions, billionaire Eli Broad has announced that he is not giving away any of his 2,000 art works to them. Instead Broad has decided that his art will be retained by his Broad Art Foundation. His foundation, which was established in 1984 and has made 7,000 loans of art to institutions around the world. Broad, who is 74 and a founder and former chief executive officer of the homebuilder KB Home and insurer SunAmerica Inc., sees his foundation as an art lending library which could be a model for other collectors who are worried that their pieces, once donated, will end up in storage rather than taking pride of place in a museum. Broad's foundation in Santa Monica currently has 20,000 square feet for showing the art that is not loaned out.

Broad's status as a collector (he is one of the world's top ten collectors) means that his decision will have an impact on how other aging collectors think about their future plans for art, wondering if they too should find an option that will make sure that their accrued works don't end up in a museum's storage. What makes Broad's decision particularly interesting is the timing, next month the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is opening the $56 million Broad Contemporary Art Museum, a building designed by Renzo Piano and financed by Broad, ostensibly for the purpose of showcasing his art. The new museum will still have favored nation status so much of the art will hang there but there is a big differenc between loaned art and owned art, especially in terms of the leverage that a large and important collection provides. Museums often go through elaborate courting processes with big fish donors spending a great deal of time and money in the hopes of getting a valuable donation.

One thing I wonder is whether or not Broad will get the same tax breaks for leaving the art in his own foundation versus donation.

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Tags: art, contemporary art, donation, eli broad, EliBroad, giving, lacma