Inspired by breakthroughs in industry and technology, visual culture in the final quarter of the 19th century in France expanded well beyond the traditional media of painting, sculpture and drawing to include advances in printmaking, photography, decorative arts and fashion. Yet, 150 years later, French Impressionism single-handedly defines this period at American art museums. Unpacking the reasons why, Collecting Impressionism at LACMA offers a surprising narrative about the people and artists who shaped LACMA, interrogating how trends in “taste” inform the museum’s collection. From early acquisitions of American and California Impressionism to donations of paintings by Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro from major Hollywood collectors, art was a tool of cultural legitimization that helped the institution grow in tandem with a developing city. Collecting Impressionism at LACMA illuminates the ways in which museum collections are constructed, and by extension, suggests how visitors can read the museum as a site of changing taste and changing narratives.

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