I've seen no mention of risk to fine art in the context of the horrendous fires in Los Angeles, California - so decided to see what I could find.
It seems to me there are four main risks
- The Art Galleries housing fine art (eg Getty Museum; Los Angeles Museum of Art)
- The Security Archives holding art bought as an investment
- The Archives of individual artists with homes in the area - such as David Hockney
- The homes of very rich people who buy art - I mourn the loss of the art...
Art Galleries - appear OK
I remember back in 2019, during the last really bad wildfires near Los Angeles, being extremely impressed with the precautions that the Getty Museum had taken in relation to risks from potential natural disasters.
This time the Getty seems to be in the clear again - and this is part of the reason why How LA's Getty Center built a fire-proof fortress for priceless art
I plugged in "Art Galleries in Los Angeles, CA" into Google Maps to see how close the major art galleries were to the six fires.
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Fires are marked by a flickering fire motif North: Hurst Fire Central: Sunset Fire West: Pacific Palisades Fire East: Eaton Fire |
It looks as if most of the main galleries (eg Los Angeles County Museum of Art) are all in built up areas which are more unlikely to wildfire - although who can tell given the extreme high winds carrying fiery embers all over the city
West of Pacific Palisades the fire seems to be burning its way along Malibu down to the coast.
News reports indicate the following
- The Guardian reports Fire reaches Getty Villa museum grounds in California, but structures not burned
The Getty Villa had “made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year”, Katherine E Fleming, president and CEO of the J Paul Getty Trust
Officials confirmed no damage to the Getty Villa Museum or its collection, but vegetation on the site has burned.
“Additional fire prevention measures in place at the Villa include water storage on-site,” said Fleming in the statement. “Irrigation was immediately deployed throughout the grounds Tuesday morning. Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.”
Security Archives ??
Security Archives are the types of places where very expensive artwork bought as an investment languishes for years.
They are the sorts of places which don't advertise their existence - interestingly there are none in Los Angeles listed on Google that I can find - apart from the archives of public / museum collections. Yet I cannot believe none exist there for the art collections of wealthy people not on their walls.
As they are not cheap and also hold enormous value in the vaults, normally one would expect them to have the sort of precautions against risk such as those employed by the Getty Museum.
I'm guessing these are probably OK - if they did their risk management plans properly and followed up with appropriate action.
Artist Archives
The David Hockney website lists the artwork in public collections - and some are in Los Angeles, notably very large ones at the LA County Museum and The Getty Gallery.
I came across a listing which said that his archives were held at his office on Santa Monica Boulevard - which now seems to be rather close to the Sunset Fire.
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| David Hockney's former home in Hollywood Hills |
His home in the Hollywood Hills - at the junction of Woodrow Wilson Drive with Montcal Avenue now appears to be a Historic Archive - and is very, very close to the the mandatory evacuation area of Sunset Fire which is spreading up Runyon Canyon.
This is where he painted many of his famous paintings of California living. It would be extremely sad if this were to burn....
Homes of very rich people
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The Pacific Palisades Evacuation Map - burning west to Malibu and east to Santa Monica |
A LOT of homes of very rich people in Pacific Palisades - including billionaires - have burned to the ground.
Those homes undoubtedly included fine art of very considerable value in terms if individual pieces and as a collection of art hung in the home. If you have a small painting, you can wrap it in a towel, pop it in a suitcase and get out fast. Larger paintings are rather more difficult to transport safely.
What has been lost is anybody's guess - but doubtless there will be comments on this topic in the future.
Commiserations - and reminders.....
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| All that remains of Carol's brand new studio after the fire. Her home was also levelled. They had insurance to start again... |
Although my interest is very much in art, I am - of course - very sad for all those people who have lost their homes and their possessions in 'a flash'.
People fleeing with just what they can carry is not a phenomena only associated with refugees in war zones. It happens to very ordinary people too.
I vividly remember back in 2011, the account back by Carol Marine of how little time she had to collect the things that were important to her when she had to vacate her home very fast because of a really fierce fire which had erupted in Bastrop, Texas.
Carol's blog - Before the Fire in which she tells us what she chose to grab as she left her home and studio fast
I use her story and a picture of what happened on the Insurance Page on my Art Business Info for Artists website (see above). Carol and her family had the insurance which allowed them to start again. They subsequently moved to a wetter part of the US.
Just a reminder that memories remain - if we remember to upload our photographic archives to the cloud before such disasters occur.
Plus we can always start again - so long as we have insurance.
PS Absolutely nothing would ever persuade me to live in a wooden house.
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