MOCA gets added painting

When the Museum of Contemporary Art opens “The Blake Byrne Collection” this weekend, visitors will see highlights of a landmark donation of 123 works by 78 artists announced last December -- and a surprise.

“Woman of Algiers,” a major painting by Marlene Dumas, has been added to the exhibition as a joint gift to MOCA and the Nasher Museum at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Byrne, a retired television executive and MOCA trustee who lives in Los Angeles, is co-chairman of the fundraising campaign for the Nasher Museum, opening this fall at his alma mater.

“Woman of Algiers,” an oil-on-canvas work measuring 78 3/4 by 39 1/2 inches, is a disturbing image inspired by a newspaper photograph of a nude woman with black “decency bars” across her breasts and genitals. Her face is blurred and she is restrained by two figures, whose bodies are mostly outside the frame.

Dumas, who was born in South Africa in 1953 and has lived in the Netherlands since 1976, mixes personal experiences with political events in her work, often using figurative images to explore the human condition and social issues. In the last few years, her works have become hot items at auction, sometimes commanding more than $1 million apiece from eager collectors.

At MOCA, “Woman of Algiers” joins five small pieces by Dumas in Byrne’s earlier donation.