hammer museum

The Hammer Museum, affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is a cultural center and art museum known for its diverse exhibitions and public programmers. The museum was founded in 1990 by industrialist Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection, but it has since grown to become "the city's most modern and culturally relevant institution." 1 Presentations by emerging and historically overlooked contemporary artists stand out among the museum's critically acclaimed exhibitions. Throughout the year, the Hammer Museum hosts over 300 programmers, ranging from lectures, symposia, and readings to concerts and film screenings. As of February 2014, all visitors to the museum's collections, exhibitions, and programmers were completely free.

History

Armand Hammer, shareholder and manager of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation and well-known for his activities in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, founded the company in 1990. 4 Hammer served on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for nearly 20 years, and his loans influenced the museum's evolution, importance, and notoriety. However, in the 1980s, he decides to open his own museum due to disagreements about how his works should be displayed and a desire to maintain some unity in his collection. On January 21, 1988, he announces the construction of a garage adjacent to his Westwood oil company headquarters. 5 ​6 ​7 ​8 The building that houses the museum was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the New York-based architect responsible for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center. It was conceived as a Renaissance palace with galleries centred around a quiet inner courtyard and a relatively austere interior. 9 Michael Maltzan designed the Billy Wilder Theater and the museum's cafeteria in 2006. The John V. Tunney Bridge, designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture, opened in February 2015. The pedestrian bridge, named after John V. Tunney, former Chairman of the Board of the Hammer Museum, connects the upper level galleries on the Court of Hammer.

Collection that is ongoing

The permanent collection of the Hammer Museum is divided into five sections: the Armand Hammer Collection of Contemporary Art, the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts Collection, the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, and the Armand Hammer Collection. 17 In addition, there is the Armand Hammer Collection on Daumier and His Contemporaries. 18 The Armand Hammer collection is the museum's collection of European and American painting; it is not the largest collection in terms of quantity, but it contains an outstanding selection of paintings, drawings, and prints. Hammer himself established it over several decades. Although the collection is temporarily closed, this set of the door on paintings collection includes Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

ADMISSION

All exhibitions and public programmers are free and open to the general public.

Monday: Closed Tuesday-Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Learn about Lulu's hours and how to make reservations for lunch and dinner.

On Saturday, December 24 and Saturday, December 31, the museum will close at 4 p.m.

Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day are always closed.

The hours of operation of the museum are subject to change.

MEMBERS

When you arrive at the museum, look for the member line to gain immediate entry. Use your digital membership card to expedite your visit. Please contact the membership department at 310-443-7050 or membership@hammer.ucla.edu if you require a new digital card or an updated version.