Norton Simon Museum, Art museum in Pasadena, United States.
Norton Simon Museum is an art museum in Pasadena, California, with works from the Renaissance, Baroque and modern eras as well as South Asian sculpture. The collection includes paintings, drawings, prints and three-dimensional objects shown in rotating exhibitions on two levels.
The museum began in 1922 as the Pasadena Art Institute, became the Pasadena Art Museum in 1954 after receiving about 400 German Expressionist works from collector Galka Scheyer, and occupied the Grace Nicholson building on North Los Robles Avenue until 1970. Its new Ladd & Kelsey building, faced in 115,000 brown glazed tiles by ceramicist Edith Heath, was completed in 1969. Financial troubles led to a 1974 agreement in which Norton Simon took over an $850,000 loan and a $1 million deficit in exchange for 75% of the galleries, and the museum was renamed for him.
The museum bears the name of Norton Simon, the industrialist who owned Max Factor and Avis and took over the Pasadena Art Museum's building and debts in 1974, giving 75% of the galleries to his collection. His widow, actress Jennifer Jones, drew Hollywood patrons such as Gregory Peck, Billy Wilder, Cary Grant and Candice Bergen to the board.
The museum stands on Colorado Boulevard, along the route of the Tournament of Roses Rose Parade, where its brown-tiled facade appears behind television broadcasts. The entrance is on the south side, with Rodin sculptures near it and further works along the boulevard and around the pond. The gardens on the old Carmelita property hold the 20th-century sculpture collection.
The gardens occupy the site of the old "Carmelita" property and were redesigned by Power and Associates to hold the 20th-century sculpture collection; Rodin works stand near the entrance, others line Colorado Boulevard and ring a large pond. The museum's brown tile facade appears behind the Rose Parade route on television.
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