New Acquisitions 2013
June 21 - December 10, 2013
Nine works of art are displayed in the upper gallery from a 2013 donation to the art museum by the late Joe Austin. These artworks are avante garde pieces from the 1970s and 1980s by artists working in the Los Angeles area and include an early painting by Lari Pittman. Beginning in 2005, Joe Austin gave a number of important works to the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. He died in March 2013 in Los Angeles at the age of 74. Mr. Austin donated modern and contemporary artworks by Alison Saar, Charles Gaines, Dewain Valentine, and Peter Shire among others. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was a successful attorney and a passionate supporter of the visual arts throughout his life. This exhibition shows the various works of art Mr. Austin had throughout his Los Angeles home and represent a unified visual style that is colorful and unexpected. To learn more about this important benefactor, see his obituary in the L.A. Times by clicking on this link: Joe Austin Obituary.
Charles Gaines
Untitled, 1986
Oil on canvas on canvas
36 x 95.25 inches
Gift of Joe Austin and the Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

Charles Gaines, Untitled, 1986, Oil on canvas, 36 x 95.25 inches, Gift of Joe Austin and the Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

Katsuhisa Sakai, Vertical Boundary 11, 1985, Found wood and acrylic, 60 x 60 x 46 inches, Gift of Joe Austin and the Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

Lari Pittman, Hibernating, 1982, Oil, acrylic, gold leaf cloth, and cork veneer, 68 x 54 x 1.75 inches, Gift of Joe Austin and Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

Cliff Benjamin, Flame, 1997, Ink and pencil on paper, 76.625 x 64.625 x 3 inches, Gift of Joe Austin and Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.

Joe Ray,Rings and Spheres, 1980-1983, Polyester resin, ring: 2 x 11.5 inches (diam.), sphere: 2 inches (diam.), Gift of Joe Austin and Kathryn C. Wanlass Foundation.




