But Simon was above all a businessman - and he collected art like one. His tutors in art education were important art dealers in New York. He was a quick learner and a big spender. Over the next years, Simon bought 80 works of art, spending about $1.5 million. Every Saturday morning, when he went to have his hair cut, he'd see art in the window display. There happened to be an art gallery next door to his barber shop in the old Ambassador Hotel. His wife and a decorator had picked out some art for the new home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He bought the works to decorate his new house, Campbell says. He paid $16,000 for a late Renoir and $300 for a painting by 20th century American artist Dan Lutz. He purchased the rare, 15th-century work for $4.2 million.īefore the Bouts and the Rembrandts, Simon's earliest purchases were comparatively modest. The most expensive piece Simon ever bought was Resurrection, by Flemish painter Dieric Bouts. And the museum is rarely crowded, so there's no need to fight for a closer look at Degas' dancers, early Flemish tapestries, 14th-century altarpieces or Rembrandt's Portrait of a Boy - thought to be his son Titus. You won't fall victim to common museum perils - sore feet or exhaustion. No more than 800 or 900 of those pieces are on display in his Pasadena museum at any one time, so visitors can't see everything in a single visit. His accomplishment is measured by some 8,000 works of art, collected over three decades, starting in 1954. He wanted to be the best and have the best - and often, he succeeded. So Simon asked Togneri to pass along this question: "Of all the Raphaels in the world, where does mine come in among the top five?" He had come to the Getty in search of her boss, but that curator was unavailable. Enlarge to see the full wool tapestry, woven with silk and gold threads.īut after gathering the information so democratically, Simon would do whatever he wanted, Campbell says.Ĭhief Curator Carol Togneri met Simon when she was working at the Getty Museum. Above, a detail of a 16th-century tapestry, Holy Family With Music-Making Angels, by Flanders.
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