The Weisman Museum
Malibu’s Art Treasure
By Gordon Durich
Blurring the lines between education, culture, and philanthropy, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art is a Malibu creative mainstay. Occupying a nook on the sprawling campus of Pepperdine University, the gallery rivals larger and more upscale institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, and the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center on the campus of UCLA in Westwood. Frederick Ross Weisman, the visionary benefactor of the Malibu Museum of Art, once said, “I don’t think there is anything that communicates better than art. It is quicker than language and clearer than philosophy.”
Weisman believed art should be shared with the public. His foundation makes its impressive art collection available through loans to museums around the world and funding of several art institutions, including the one in Malibu. Michael Zakian, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, asserts “I am proud of our track record in rediscovering important but forgotten California artists such as the pioneering modernist Agnes Pelton, and most recently, Los Angeles pop artist Robert Dowd.”
"I don’t think there is anything that communicates better than art. It is quicker than language and clearer than philosophy.”
Frederick Ross Weisman,
Benefactor of the Malibu Museum of Art
The art gallery occupies a space across the plaza from the university’s impressive central campus library. Along with the Smothers Theatre and music concert halls, the gallery completes the Center for the Arts.
The Weisman Museum of Art is home to a rotating display of artwork including masterpieces by classic contemporary artists and inspiring new works by emerging artists, some of whom are students from Southern California if not around the globe. A retrospective of work by renowned international glass artist Dale Chihuly in 2005 attracted the largest attendance in the museum’s history.
In keeping with the kinetic tone of the Malibu environment, the theme of this year’s exhibition is continuity and change. Many of the works are in the club founder’s style, known as California Impressionism or plein air (“open air”) painting. Although the style is a century old, these painters continue to create fresh new images and compositions. Other artists choose to push the boundaries of realism, producing novel images that show that the realist tradition is able to keep pace with the times.
Images of Malibu on display at the museum
Over the years, Malibu has attracted artists drawn to its scenic appeal. More recently, artists have also begun to look more at the social aspects of how people live in Malibu. Paintings in the “On Location in Malibu 2009: Paintings by the California Art Club” exhibition (which concluded in August) addressed timely issues of homelessness as well as paparazzi. However, many painters are still moved by the sheer beauty of Malibu, and their paintings convey that magnificence. For the past decade Zakian has invited artists to exhibit on the theme. “These artists have come to Malibu over the past year to record their impressions of the picturesque seaside region, capturing the community and images of pristine beaches, majestic mountains, and perennial Pacific Coast Highway.”
The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art is set in a casual ocean-side setting, with both “serious” and whimsical programs of new and established work. The courtyard setting boasts a California mood and eclectic architectural energy. It also offers interactive educational opportunities, including the Arts Reach program, which affords visiting student groups to visit the gallery and literally draw their experiences first hand.
In keeping with the art-is-for-everyone philosophy, in the mid-1980s, Weisman bought a mission revival residence in Holmby Hills, (Bel Air) in Los Angeles, filled it with art, and opened the estate to the public. A large portion of his collection still remains in the residence, which is maintained by the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation. Visitors can tour the collection and experience what it would have been like to be surrounded by magnificent art in a residential setting during the last decades of the 20th century.
Since its was founded in 1992, Malibu’s Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art has established a reputation for being one of the most interesting small art museums in the Los Angeles area, by emphasizing artists of national and international stature who are overlooked by the larger institutions. It’s worth the drive to take in the indoor and outdoor scenic views.
2009 - 2010 Season: Open Tuesday-Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM, and one hour prior to most performances through intermission. There is no admission charge. Closed on Mondays and major holidays. For more information, call 310.506.4851.
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art
Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90263
