my favorite modern exhibits at LACMA

Last weekend we balanced our flea market marathon with a trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I had heard good reviews, but nothing specific. I wasn’t prepared to see important works, icons of modernism, that confronted us before we even made it inside! Here are my favorite moments.

On our way to the ticket window, we fell into trance watching three Alexander Calder mobiles in a lovely water garden.
Next we walked through Michael Heizer’s “Levitated Mass” installation, a mashup of primitive boulder art and modern engineering.
We spent several minutes in the courtyard watching these kids play with “Penetrabile,” by Jesús Rafael Soto. This little girl’s broken arm didn’t hold her back one bit!
Just after entering, we wound through Tony Smith’s monumental “Smoke.”
I’m in love with the color combination in Matisse’s ceramic “La Gerbe.” A local couple commissioned it for their patio in the 60s.
Didn’t expect to turn a corner and run into Josef Albers’s “Homage to the Square” paintings.
Looking closely at Lichtenstein’s “Cold Shoulder,” I was surprised to see many pencil marks and paint smudges. I always assumed that his imitations of mechanical printing were extremely precise. This discovery made me feel I could ease up a bit on my own perfectionism.

 

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