Robert Halff, 96; Ad Exec, Museum Donor
Hyfler/Rosner
BYLINE: Suzanne Muchnic, Times Staff Writer
LA Times
Robert H. Halff, an advertising executive who loved
collecting contemporary art and took even greater delight in
giving it away, died Dec. 18 at his home in Beverly Hills of
congestive heart failure. He was 96.
"The main thing is that collecting art has enriched my life
enormously," Halff told The Times in 1994, when the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art presented an exhibition of 40
donations from his collection. "I am just so pleased that I
got involved with art and had the opportunity to live with
it."
Components of that gift included a classic Joan Miro canvas;
an early Jasper Johns painting of the number 7; vintage
works on paper by Sam Francis, Cy Twombly and Robert
Motherwell; and Jeff Koons' "J.B. Turner Engine" sculpture.
There also was trademark Pop art, such as one of Andy
Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Can" paintings, Claes Oldenburg's
sculpture of a baked potato, and Roy Lichtenstein's
comic-book-style painting "Cold Shoulder."
"These are things the museum should have bought, but didn't
have the foresight or the money to buy," Halff said. "They
will fill a lot of gaps."
A longtime trustee of the museum, he gave it 53 works over
the years, including the 40-piece bonanza. He also
contributed to the facility's acquisition of works by such
artists as Donald Judd, Sherrie Levine, Robert Gober and
Toba Khedoori -- funded by groups of patrons.
Stephanie Barron, chief curator of LACMA's Center for Modern
and Contemporary Art, called Halff's multipart donation "the
most important gift of contemporary art received by the
museum in 40 years." Praising his thoughtfulness, she said:
"He chose his gifts to museums very carefully."
Among other beneficiaries of Halff's largess, Los Angeles'
Museum of Contemporary Art has received 14 artworks from his
collection, including sculptures by Oldenburg, John
Chamberlain, Matthew Barney and Joel Shapiro and a pair of
cardboard chairs by Frank Gehry.
The Los Angeles collector also gave artworks to the McNay
Art Museum in the city of his birth, San Antonio.
Born in 1908 to a collecting family, Halff said acquiring
art was in his genes. He fed his passion for the art of his
time with profits from the advertising industry.
After graduating from the Wharton School of Finance and
Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Los
Angeles in 1942.
He initially worked as a screenwriter for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he collaborated on screenplays
for Ann Sothern, Red Skelton and Laurel and Hardy. He spent
most of his career -- about 35 years -- in advertising.
Ascending the ranks of the industry, he eventually became
creative director of several New York- and California-based
agencies, including Compton Advertising.
As he acquired the means to build a collection, Halff
patronized galleries in New York and Los Angeles, welcomed
fellow collectors to his home and joined art support groups.
He was a founding member of the Museum of Contemporary Art
and LACMA's Modern and Contemporary Art Council; a member of
the Fellows of Contemporary Art, a Los Angeles-based group
that sponsors exhibitions; and an honorary trustee of the
McNay Art Museum.
Contributions in Halff's honor may be made to the Modern and
Contemporary Art Council Art Acquisition Endowment at LACMA,
the Museum of Contemporary Art or charities of the donor's
choice.
A memorial service for Halff, who had no immediate
survivors, will be held Jan. 14 at 3 p.m. at LACMA's Bing
Theater, 5905 Wilshire Blvd.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: ROBERT H. HALFF: He gave 53 of his artworks
to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, including "Cold
Shoulder" by Roy Lichtenstein, behind him. PHOTOGRAPHER: Los
Angeles Times