LA County Museum of Art

LA County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA as it is commonly known, is among the world’s largest art collections in North America, and to be specific enough the most prevalent artwork in the western United States (Compton 165). This massive art museum has a collection of over 100,000 artworks, which extends from the ancient times to present days (Gilbert and Mills 174). These collections, which are mainly from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin-America and America itself, are grouped into several departments within the museums buildings, depending on the region, culture, media, and time period. This paper analyzes the different genres of art and explains the main features that make the Islamic artworks distinguish themselves as historic masterpieces, by using stylistic and interpretive analysis methods.

History and Origin of LACMA Artworks

The museums Asian art collection, preferably from China and Korea, are exhibited in the Pavilion for Japanese Art (Basch and Poole 541), whereas the Latin American art collection: comprising pre-Columbian magnum opuses to works by Diego Rivera, Clemento Orozco, Frida Kahlo, and such like, are exhibited in the Latin American Art galleries (Compton 165). In addition to its American, Latin American and Asian artworks, the museum has also some of the renowned Islamic and African art collections. The Latin American collection harbors pre-Columbian and Spanish art galleries and other recent and contemporary works of art. But despite its predominance in the LACMA museum, these pieces of art may not rival the Arabian or Islamic art in beauty and magnificence.

Benedetti claims LACMA harbors over 1,700 different Islamic artworks (4). Most of them are collected from the ...

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