Piano Plays On at LACMA, as Resnicks Donate $45 Million for New Pavilion

Now that the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum is up and running at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CEO and director Michael Govan is eager to keep up the expansion momentum. Enter collectors Lynda and Stewart Resnick. The museum announced this week that the couple will donate $45 million (plus approximately $10 million more in artwork) to LACMA for a new Renzo Piano-designed building (pictured above, in model form) slated to open in 2010.

The Los Angeles Times described the Resnicks as “Beverly Hills residents whose vast business holdings include a floral wire service, a bottled-water enterprise, and some of the nation’s largest orchards.” While we can’t say for sure what a floral wire service is (a Western Union for tulips, perhaps, which may or may not involve the bottled water concern), we can give you the details of the new Resnick Pavilion. According to LACMA, it will be a single-story, glass and travertine marble-enclosed structure located just north of the Broad building. Its 45,000 square feet of exhibition space will be used mainly to house special shows. With a flexible open plan and a glass roof, the pavilion will be flooded with natural light. “It’s all skylights,” Govan told the LAT. “So there’s the wow factor.”

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