Similarly, the Broads have two absolutely great Rauschenbergs. One is the fabulous Untitled (Red Painting) (1954), which is a real transitional work between Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. But we knew that we could get loans from Sonnabend, and it’s so rare to see these amazing iconic Rauschenberg works in Los Angeles that it seemed like a good idea.  

Doesn’t that compromise the show as a tribute to the Broads?

No. It really concentrates on their artists. In other words, we might have very strong holdings in another artist’s work at LACMA, but if they’re not represented in the Broads’ collections, we didn’t put them in. We have some really great early Frank Stellas, for example. We could do an amazing room of Frank Stellas, but we didn’t do it in this installation.

Their collection is a collection of individual artists in depth. Our collection is rarely that. We might have great single works, or two or three major works by an important artist, but they didn’t go into the show because it was conceived as a monographic installation, because that’s the way that the Broads collect.

And within an individual artist’s work, how did you make the selections?

Where we could we involved the artists in the installation. We sent Ellsworth Kelly the plan for the installation and he felt that we had to include a black and white painting which was the last painting that he did in Paris. We were thrilled that he was willing to lend it from his personal collection.

What about Cindy Sherman? There’s practically a full-scale retrospective of her work there.

There are about 50 works by Sherman. And it’s not everything by her that they own, by the way. They have more of Cindy Sherman’s work than anybody else, I think.

Did you consult her on the hang?

We did. She basically planned the layout for that gallery. I’m really pleased with it; I don’t think anyone else could have done it the way she did.

You mentioned earlier that you wanted to show Ed Ruscha to best advantage. Do you feel that LACMA has a mission to promote L.A. art?

I do. If you’re building a collection nowadays, you can’t cover the entire world. You have to figure out some kind of a focus. We have what is arguably the premier collection of L.A. art from the ’60s and ’70s, and we keep building on that. We want it to be the destination collection for L.A. art. We also feel that we want to represent the artists in our community. Obviously we want to see them in a national and international context, but we want them to be a very strong suit in how we present contemporary art in the museum.