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NEWS FROM THE GETTY
DATE: April 23, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A LIFETIME PASSION BECOMES A PUBLIC LEGACY
Fran and Ray Stark’s Collection of Modern Outdoor Sculpture Finds a New Home at the Getty Center
LOS ANGELES—When legendary film producer Ray Stark died in January 2004, he left behind not only an impressive showcase of cinematic treasures, but also a lifetime’s bequest of art. Together with Fran Stark, his wife of 53 years, who died in 1992, Stark assembled a formidable group of modern works, including one of the best private collections of sculpture. The couple’s love of art will now become a public legacy, when 28 pieces of modern sculpture from their collection move to their new home at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, thanks to the generosity of Fran and Ray Stark through The Ray Stark Revocable Trust. Fran and Ray found joy in painting, as well as sculpture. His favorite artist was Henry Moore, who he thought “had a wonderful sense of humanity.” The Starks’ tastes tended towards figurative works and their collection is filled with solid examples of the human form captured in various studies, from Moore’s robust Draped Reclining Mother and Baby, to Aristide Maillol’s sensuous Torse de Dina, and Alberto Giacometti’s elongated, thin, and angular Standing Woman I. The collection also features figures of animals, and more abstract works including Ellsworth Kelly’s Untitled, which pierces the sky with its towering strength; Roy Lichtenstein’s Three Brushstrokes, a freeze frame of three swaths of color seemingly painted in mid-air; and Alexander Calder’s The Jousters with its playful connection of shapes and forms. The variety of works collected reflects Fran and Ray’s personalities and tastes. They are at once beautiful and thoughtful, abstract and tactile, humorous and earthy. The Starks’ sculpture collection began innocently enough. It has been reported that when Fran and Ray expressed their fondness for a Barbara Hepworth in Joseph Hirshhorn’s collection, Hirshhorn immediately called the artist and ordered a similar work to be sent to Ray. Soon after, Ray met Henry Moore at a London film premiere and began a friendship that would see a
-more- Page 2 series of Moore’s large-scale bronze sculptures arrive at the Starks’ Holmby Hills home. In order to find the best arrangement for their prized Moore works, it was said that Fran ordered cardboard cutouts of the pieces so that she could move them around their lawn until she found the perfect spot for each. Over the years as the collection grew, the Starks carefully found a place for each treasured work in their lives. At home in Holmby Hills, paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Max Pechstein, and Georges Braque covered their walls while their sculpture collection could be seen on tables in their living room as well as outdoors in their personal sculpture garden. On the patio, Maillol’s Torse de Dina could be viewed from the house through a large window. By the pool were Marino Marini’s dramatic Angel of the Citadel, René Magritte’s Delusions of Grandeur, and another Maillol sculpture, L’Air. Visitors to their picturesque ranch near Los Olivos were also greeted with a parade of museum-quality sculpture that lined their driveway. The Stark s interacted with art as part of their daily lives. Born in 1915, Ray Stark headed for Hollywood in 1938, where he started his career as a journalist and publicist and later became a talent agent for such stars as Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, William Holden, and Kirk Douglas before becoming one of the most successful independent producers of all time. Beginning with The World of Suzie Wong (1960), Stark went on to produce more than 125 films that grossed well over $1 billion during a four-decade career. His film legacy ranges from classics such as Night of the Iguana (1964) with Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor to blockbusters in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s including The Way We Were (1973), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), The Electric Horseman (1979), Peggy Sue got Married (1986), Steel Magnolias (1989), and HBO’s Barbarians at the Gate (1993). He also made 11 movies with playwright Neil Simon, including The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Goodbye Girl (1977), California Suite (1978), and Biloxi Blues (1988). But perhaps the project closest to his heart was Funny Girl (1968), based on the life of his mother-in-law Fanny Brice, the vaudeville comedienne and star of the Ziegfeld Follies. Known for his ability to spot talent, Stark personally selected Barbara Streisand to play the role of Brice against the wishes of the film studio, giving the young actress her first motion picture role. He applied the same deft eye to Fran’s and his art collection as well. Just as Stark’s films have entertained millions over the years, the Stark collection of outdoor sculpture will now be accessible to a wide audience and become a lasting part of the
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Page 3 city’s culture. The gift through The Ray Stark Revocable Trust to the Getty continues Fran and Ray Stark’s long tradition of philanthropy to Los Angeles. This includes the creation and funding of the Peter Stark Program at USC’s School of Cinema and Television in memory of their late son.
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