Beverly Hills Art Collector Donates 22 Art Pieces to MOCA

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Los Angeles art collectors Alan Hergott and Curt Shepard are donating 22 pieces -- a sizable portion of their groundbreaking collection of photographs exploring questions of gender and sexuality -- to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, it was reported Tuesday.

Over the nearly three decades that the two have been together, Hergott, a Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer who serves on the acquisitions committee of Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, and Shepard, who serves as chief of staff at the Hammer Museum, have built a significant collection of some 200- plus paintings, photographs, sculptures and other art works, the Los Angeles Times reported.

They began acquiring works as a couple in the late 1980s and early 1990s, honing their sights on works that dealt with gender and queer identity, according to the newspaper. That meant acquiring photographs by Catherine Opie, whose portraits explore questions of sexuality, or by the British duo Gilbert & George, known for creating graphic works that fuse pop, religious iconography and homoeroticism.

Tuesday, these artists and their works are part of mainstream discussions about art and its history. The 22 pieces being donated to MOCA include works by Opie and Gilbert & George, The Times reported. It’s the single biggest donation of art to MOCA since retired television executive E. Blake Byrne donated 123 works in 2004.

The latest donation from Hergott and Shepard is in addition 18 other works that the couple have given to the museum over the years -- high-profile pieces by key 20th century artists, including installationist Mike Kelley, painter Lari Pittman, photographers Andres Serrano and Hiroshi Sugimoto and the prominent conceptualists John Baldessari and Bruce Nauman, according to The Times.

-- City News Service, photo courtesy of MOCA