Art marriage may yield L.A. mega-museum
LACMA makes a preliminary offer for taking over MOCA. Eli Broad might need to OK any merger.
Eli Broad, who is building a museum across from MOCA, agreed in 2008 to give the downtown Los Angeles institution a bailout valued at up to $30 million. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / January 8, 2013)
By Jori Finkel and Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has proposed acquiring the troubled Museum of Contemporary Art — a move that would combine the biggest art collection west of the Mississippi with one of the world’s most prestigious troves of contemporary art.
The acquisition could put to rest long-standing concerns over the financial viability of the Museum of Contemporary Art, or MOCA. But it also faces potential opposition from the region’s most influential art patron, billionaire Eli Broad.
In funding a 2008 MOCA bailout valued at up to $30 million, Broad won a stipulation that MOCA could not be acquired for 10 years by “any museum located within 100 miles of MOCA’s Grand Avenue facility,” excluding “educational institutions or museums affiliated with educational institutions.” Broad declined immediate comment Thursday.
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The acquisition offer was made in a letter from the leaders of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, to the co-chairs of the MOCA board.