LACMA, Steven Spielberg to Honor Stanley Kubrick

Following up on the success of its first Art + Film Gala last autumn, which was chaired by Leonardo DiCaprio and museum trustee Eva Chow (wife of restaurateur Michael Chow), LACMA has announced its second gala, taking place Oct. 27.

The event, once again chaired by DiCaprio and Chow, will honor both director Stanley Kubrick and artist Ed Ruscha, both of whom will have exhibitions of their work on view at the museum this fall.

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Director Steven Spielberg will pay tribute to Kubrick. Spielberg and Kubrick were collaborators on 2001’s AI: Artificial Intelligence, conceived by Kubrick in the 1970s and later written and directed by Spielberg.

The gala — sponsored again by Gucci (its creative director, Frida Giannini, will be the night’s host committee chair) — raises money for the museum’s film initiatives.

Terry Semel, former chairman of Warner Bros. and Yahoo and co-chair of LACMA’s board of trustees, said in a release: “I had the honor of working with Stanley Kubrick on the Warner Bros. films Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. It gives me great pleasure to honor Stanley at LACMA, both at the Art + Film Gala and in his retrospective exhibition.”

The Kubrick show, opening Nov. 1, covers his career from his early photographs for Look magazine to his film work, represented through annotated scripts, production photos, cameras, costumes and props. It also looks at two projects he never completed, Napoleon and The Aryan Papers. The travelling exhibit originated at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany.

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“LACMA has actively taken strides to integrate film into the museum,” said LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg director Michael Govan, noting such exhibits in recent years as Tim Burton and Dali: Painting and Film. “Additionally, Elvis Mitchell continues to produce robust programming with  Film Independent at LACMA.”

For those who read art-world tea leaves, the timing of the Ruscha honor is interesting given that the artist recently resigned from the board of LACMA’s cross-town rival MOCA in a dispute over the direction of the museum.

Last year’s black-tie Art + Film Gala — which raised $3 million and honored Clint Eastwood and artist John Baldessari — drew a crowd that included Kate Hudson, Jane Fonda, Olivia Wilde, Eli Roth, Julian Schnabel, Gus Van Sant, Bob Iger, Barry Meyer, Jeff Robinov and Harvey Weinstein. Industry names who serve as LACMA trustees in attendance included Brian Grazer, Michael Lynton and Steve Tisch.