LACMA’S NEW OFFERINGS

As excitement over opening the Robert O. Anderson building subsides at the County Museum of Art, life goes on in an ambitious lineup of programs. On the heels of “The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890-1985,” the museum inaugurates the national tour of “Je Suis Le Cahier: The Sketchbooks of Picasso” and hosts the exhibition “Renaissance Bronzes From the Collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna,” both beginning Dec. 16. The 75 bronzes from Italy and Northern Europe date from the 15th to the early 17th centuries.

Starting Feb. 26, “19th Century French Drawings From Rotterdam: The Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen” brings to Los Angeles 100 drawings by the most influential artists of that period including Corot, Rousseau, Courbet, Delacroix, Daumier, Degas, Maillol, Ingres, Manet and Cezanne. “Treasures of the Holy Land: Ancient Art From the Israel Museum,” opening April 12, features 200 antiquities from major archeological periods in the land of the Bible.

As a counterpoint to ancient art and artifacts, “Avant-garde in the Eighties,” beginning April 23, presents more than 125 paintings, sculptures, videotapes, photographs and projects. June 4 is the opening date of “Photography and Art 1946-1986,” in which more than 100 images demonstrate the relationships and interplay between traditional photography, painting, drawing and sculpture. “Images in Clay: South and Southeast Asian Terracottas From the Paul and Marilyn Walter Grounds Collection,” opening June 25, features 80 terra-cotta sculptures from India, Indonesia and Nepal.

“Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia,” the first major retrospective exhibition of the American photographer, opens July 16 with about 165 prints, books and the entire collection of his works in video and film.

“The Arts and Crafts Movement: Design Reform in America, 1875-1920,” starting Aug. 1, showcases furniture, glass, silver, ceramics, textiles, costumes, books and landscaping plans influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. On Aug. 16, “The Machine Age: the Americanization of Art” completes the picture of the evolution of art, design and industrial manufacture in our time.

The fall lineup includes “Jasper Johns: A Print Retrospective,” covering 25 years of the artist’s work in graphics, running in tandem with “Gemini G.E.L. Art and Collaboration,” featuring prints by 31 noted artists who worked at Gemini in Los Angeles. Both open Oct. 1.

Oct. 15 launches “The Quest For Eternity,” 160 examples of Chinese ceramic sculpture from the Neolithic period to the Ming Dynasty.

Two exhibitions focusing on the movie industry wind up 1987: “Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film” and “Hollywood Photographs: Interpreting American Culture through Photography,” both opening Dec. 20, 1987.

A live, hourlong radio performance by Terry Allen, titled “Torso Hell,” will be aired Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on KPFK.

“Torso Hell” is a radio adaptation of a segment from Allen’s ongoing series, “Youth in Asia.” The piece will combing live readings of text by Allen with prerecorded tapes and music by Skip Gaynard.

“Youth in Asia “ began in 1983 when Allen was invited to Thailand to record a sound-track for “Amerasia,” a German documentary film about American veterans who chose to remain in Asia after the Vietnam War.

The broadcast is part of “Soundings,” a KPFK program produced by Jacki Apple which airs original live work as well as records and tapes by performance artists, composers and writers. High Performance magazine co-sponsors the program with Apple, on the fourth Tuesday of each month.

Audio cassettes of the broadcast will be available from High Performance Audio. For information contact Claire Peeps at (213) 687-7362.

“Canadian Diamonds,” a new video-tape by Toronto-based artist Gary Kibbins, will be shown on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at EZTV.

In the tape, exploring the relationship between history and the printing press, Kibbins presents Canada as a news-magazine run by an editor rather than a prime minister, and staffed by foreign correspondents and columnists.

EZTV, a video screening and editing facility, is co-sponsoring the program with the L.A. Center for Photographic Studies. General admission is $5; $4 for center members. Information: (213) 657-1532.

A sculpture by Miki Benoff commissioned for the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA will be unveiled today--for the second time. The 9-foot, two-part work in polyester resin, originally installed for the Olympics in 1984, met with an ill-fated encounter when gale-force winds weakened its base and caused one of the pieces to fall and break on the day of the first dedication. The re-completed work is now securely in place.