A powerful charcoal drawing by artist Robert Longo depicting a police line facing protestors in last year’s racially charged riots in Ferguson, Mo. is one of more than 50 new artworks added to the Broad collection in anticipation of the September 20 opening of Los Angeles’s new contemporary art museum, The Broad announced on Monday.

Ella Kruglyanskaya’s “Girl on a Hot Day, 2015”, is part of the new acquisition received by The Broad Art Foundation.
When The Broad opens on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles with free general admission, it will be home to one of the world’s leading collections of postwar and contemporary art, assembled over the past 40 years by the Broads. The 120,000-square-foot museum, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, will feature 50,000 square feet of public exhibition space on two floors, including a sky-lit, column-free top-floor gallery that spans nearly a full acre.
Most of the additions to the Broad collection are artworks that were acquired within a year of the artist producing them, reflecting the museum’s commitment to build a dynamic collection of the most comprehensive and current contemporary art.
The works include newer artists to the collection, such as Julie Mehretu, Goshka Macuga and Ella Kruglyanskaya as well as a massive work by Takashi Murakami that is the largest painting in the Broad collection, and recent works by artists who are represented in-depth, including John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool and Damien Hirst. The Broad also acquired a classic 1954 combine by Robert Rauschenberg and three sculptures by Cy Twombly.
Founding Director Joanne Heyler is curating the Broad’s inaugural installation, which will feature some 250 works drawn from the Broad collection.
“One of the great delights of working with the Broad collection is the ability to add works by renowned masters such as John Baldessari or Robert Rauschenberg while also building our holdings in very contemporary works made by new generations of artists,” Heyler said.
“People sometimes ask whether Edye and I ever get tired of pursuing new acquisitions,” said philanthropist and museum founder Eli Broad. “It’s like asking if we’re tired of life. It’s exciting to discover new works—as they’re being created. We were drawn to contemporary art because it’s art of our time. And these latest acquisitions represent the themes and issues of the world we live in today.”



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