Broad brush paints new era for art in LA

Published on Saturday 6 March 2010 18:12

ON THE West Coast of America the arts world is in a flap. The news that Jeffrey Deitch is preparing to take the helm of that cultural pillar of Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art, could indicate a seismic shift in the relationship between culture and philanthropy in the United States.

The unspoken understanding that gallery curators and private art dealers co-exist on either side of an unbreachable barrier has been transgressed.

Deitch, who made a name for himself in the 1980s sniffing out new talent and representing rising stars such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons, is a canny businessman and a Harvard Business School graduate. Moreover, he is the preferred appointment of billionaire American philanthropist and collector Eli Broad.

Broad dominates the arts with a force that has no parallel in any major US city. His business-focused method of managing his philanthropy has earned him a reputation over 40 years as both a genius and a despot.

His influence in securing the position for Deitch is based on the fact that Broad helped found MOCA three decades ago and recently bailed it out with a grant estimated at $30 million (20m).

But the billionaire philanthropist's generosity comes not just with strings but with ropes that could moor an ocean liner.

He has been known to pull his support, resign from a board or, in some cases, decline to fulfil his financial promises when a project comes together in a way he does not like.

Broad is unapologetic about his approach. "If we start with a game plan, I want to make sure it happens," he said. "At the age of 76, I don't want to feel frustrated."

Through his $2.5 billion foundation, he has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to education reform and scientific and medical research, including major programmes at Caltech, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

He oversaw fundraising for the Walt Disney Concert Hall and has used his own contemporary art collection as a lending library that will soon be another museum. He was one of those responsible for supporting the Los Angeles Opera production of Wagner's Ring cycle.

His remarkable influence says much about Los Angeles and its still-adolescent philanthropic culture, diffuse power base and lack of civic investment among many of its richest residents.

"Eli is not the problem," said Ann Philbin, the director of the Hammer Museum, who sparred with Broad when he sat on and eventually resigned from that museum's board. "The problem is that we don't have enough Elis in Los Angeles to balance out his generosity and the power of his influence."

Born and raised in Detroit, Broad made his first fortune in home building then moved into financial services.

He was the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1979.

His impact on the cultural scene can be stormy. In 2003, Broad pledged $50m for a much-needed new building to hold contemporary art. He personally lobbied the Italian architect Renzo Piano to design it, and it was universally inferred that Broad and his wife Edythe would donate much of their extensive personal collection to the building.

But just before the new wing opened in 2008, Broad said he would keep the 2,000-plus works in his collection and instead loan hundreds of them to the museum. Soon the new wing became home to various shows and other works of art, in addition to the Broad pieces, enraging Broad. As a result, several board members said, he has not paid the balance of his pledged gift of around 4m.

"He owes us a fortune," said Lynda Resnick, a board member. "He wouldn't speak to me for a year and a half" over the dispute.

Broad has "fulfilled my gift 100-plus per cent," he said. "The question is: Have they honoured their commitments to me, which was to show our collection?"

Resnick said: "When Eli gives, it is like negotiating a business deal. It is not altruistic. It is not blind charity. And there is a difference between being generous and being charitable. But it doesn't matter in the end because the good was still done."

But unlike other US cities, where old families and old money tend to dominate boards, Los Angeles has the philanthropic spirit of a relatively new city.

That has meant that young donors can quickly gain access to big-name things, and that some people who came to remake their lives here can remake tired institutions too.

"You can come to this city as I did 40 odd years ago without the right background, family-wise, politically, religiously, and be accepted," Broad said, "if you're willing to work hard, have good ideas and make things happen."

It may also be that Broad is setting the terms for the emerging philanthropic culture in Los Angeles. Jane Nathanson, a longtime trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art, said: "I think there is a new type of philanthropist now. New wealth is earned, and if you can get it, there is going to be a great deal of control."