LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced eight promised gifts of art from Jane and Marc Nathanson. The Nathansons’ gift of eight works of contemporary art includes seminal pieces by Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, and others.

The bequest is made in honor of LACMA’s 50th anniversary in 2015. The gifts kick off a campaign, chaired by LACMA trustees Jane Nathanson and Lynda Resnick, to encourage additional promised gifts of art for the museum’s anniversary. Gifts resulting from this campaign will be exhibited at LACMA April 26–September 7, 2015, in an exhibition, 50 for 50: Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA’s 50th Anniversary.

"What do you give a museum for its birthday? Art. As we reach the milestone of our 50th anniversary, it is truly inspiring to see generous patrons thinking about the future generations of visitors who will enjoy these great works of art for years and decades to come,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. “Jane and Marc Nathanson have kicked off our anniversary year in grand fashion.”

Jane Nathanson added, “I hope these gifts will inspire others to make significant contributions in the form of artwork as we look forward not only to the 50th anniversary of the museum, but to the next 50 years. I can’t wait for this spring, when these and other gifts will be on view in a special anniversary exhibition at the museum, which we’ll celebrate in high style at the Anniversary Gala on April 18.”

Jane and Marc Nathanson are well-known philanthropic leaders in Los Angeles. Jane Nathanson is a psychologist and licensed clinical marriage and family therapist. A member of the board of trustees at LACMA since 2004, Mrs. Nathanson is a founder and former trustee of the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In addition to their significant arts and culture support, Mr. and Mrs. Nathanson have supported many health-related causes including founding the Nathanson Resilience Center at the UCLA Neuro Psychiatric Institute and funding the creation of meditation rooms on every floor of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Mrs. Nathanson is a trustee at UCLA Medical Center and a former director of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Marc Nathanson is chairman of Mapleton Investments, a diversified investment holding company, and Falcon Waterfree Technologies. He serves as a trustee of the board of the Aspen Institute, is on the board of directors at the Pacific Council on International Policy, and was founding chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) for Los Angeles. Prior to his current role at Mapleton and Falcon Waterfree, Mr. Nathanson founded and served as chairman and CEO of Falcon Cable TV. Mr. Nathanson additionally served as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors during the Clinton and Bush Administrations.

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Jane and Marc Nathanson have contributed generously to build the museum’s collection, including supporting the acquisition of the complete print works by artist Ed Ruscha. The Nathansons were lead donors to LACMA’s Transformation campaign, and a major gallery in the Renzo Piano–designed BCAM building is named in their honor. Mrs. Nathanson chaired the gala opening for the building in 2008, guiding the single largest fundraising event in LACMA’s history, widely seen as marking a pivotal moment for the museum’s future.

Jane and Marc Nathanson promised an extraordinary grouping of eight works created over four decades by some of the most important artists of the last half century, including Gilbert & George, Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Julian Schnabel, George Segal, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol. Selections of the gift include Andy Warhol’s Two Marilyns, from 1962, created around the time Warhol began using the silkscreen process, a method that would soon become his signature. Along with Campbell’s Soup Can (1964) and Black and White Disaster (1962), two works already in LACMA’s collection, this triumvirate will allow the museum to present a full view of Warhol’s central concerns during the 1960s. James Rosenquist’s Portrait of the Scull Family (1962) illustrates the artist’s seemingly irrational juxtapositions in Surrealism combined with directed references to manufactured goods and mass media, all rendered in the artist’s signature dispassionate and seemingly anonymous sign-painter’s technique. Also included in the Nathansons’ gift is George Segal’s Laundromat (1966–67), Gilbert & George’s Falling (1972), Frank Stella’s La Columba Lady (1984), Julian Schnabel’s Fox Farm Painting X (1989), Roy Lichtenstein’s Interior with Three Hanging Lamps (1991), and Damien Hirst’s Death Will Have His Day (2006).

50 for 50: Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA’s 50th Anniversary
LACMA announced an exhibition this spring that will include approximately 50 new works gifted in honor of the museum’s 50th anniversary, including selections from Jane and Marc Nathanson’s generous gift. Other promised gifts to be featured in the exhibition will be unveiled for the first time at an Anniversary Gala on April 18. The exhibition will be open to members April 20–25, and will open to the public during a free community day on April 26. Since 2007 LACMA has added more than 19,000 objects to its collection of over 120,000 works from ancient times to the present. This includes the Janice and Henri Lazarof collection of Modern art; the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon collection of photography, made possible by a gift from Wallis Annenberg; collections of European fashion; ancient American art; and art from the Pacific Islands; as well as individual masterpieces by the likes of Thomas Eakins, Maruyama Ōkyo, Henri Matisse, and others.