Earl A Powell

Three Andrew Wyeth watercolors that figure in a court battle between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a foundation set up by the late film producer Hal B. Wallis were sold at auction Thursday for $450,000. The sale at Christie's in New York occurred after attorneys for the museum and the foundation agreed to include proceeds from the three Wyeth works in an escrow account containing the $39.6 million brought by the May 10 sale of eight Impressionist paintings from the Wallis collection.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art held an open house Wednesday night to say goodby to the museum's director of the past 12 years, Earl A. Powell III--better known as Rusty. Powell will begin his new job as director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington on Sept. 1, but he and his wife Nancy were leaving Los Angeles early the next morning for their new home in Georgetown.

Director Earl A. Powell III says visitors 'can sweep through art history, not necessarily all in one afternoon, but in several afternoons' at the county Museum of Art, where repeat patrons have cultivated . . . Although the Los Angeles County Museum of Art attracts visitors from around the world, many of its "regular customers" are local residents who use the museum as their neighborhood cultural and entertainment center.

The National Gallery of Art will dip into private funds to reopen the much-heralded Johannes Vermeer exhibition--and only the Vermeer exhibition--for a week, starting today. The about $30,000 needed to keep 25 guards on the job for a week, normally provided by federal funds, will be paid from the gallery's Fund for International Exchange. Because of the partial government shutdown, nearly all federally funded museums have been closed to the public.

The County Museum of Art has received a $1-million challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the maximum grant awarded by the federal agency, to beef up its endowment fund. The grant must be matched 3 to 1 over a three-year period. The award was among $21.5 million in challenge grants to 63 arts institutions across the nation announced Tuesday by the National Endowment. The money is expected to generate an additional $160 million in private funds, endowment officials estimated.

White Memorial Medical Center will receive $92,000, net proceeds of a gala attended by 900 guests on Nov. 2 at the Century Plaza. The medical center's foundation sponsored the event, with Mayor Tom Bradley, John Denver and Melanie Taylor Kent serving as honorary chairmen. Foundation chairmen were John W. and Millie Gates. Proceeds will be used to purchase a new central monitoring system for the hospital's children's unit. * Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America, L.A.

It sprinkled on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Edo Gala, but few seemed to mind. After all, said one guest, rain on such an occasion means good luck in Japan. The black-tie dinner was a fund-raiser and preview for the Pavilion for Japanese Art, the museum's new free-standing building for the exhibition and study of Japanese paintings and sculpture.

From perhaps the world's smallest kite to acrobatics by Tokyo firefighters, a once-in-a-lifetime view of Japan goes on display Sunday, back to the age before Americans opened the country to the outside world nearly 150 years ago. It is an exhibit called "Edo--Art in Japan 1615-1868." Tokyo was known as Edo in the 17th century, when it had a million inhabitants and was the world's largest city, said Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art.

A concert was performed by musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Dec. 10 at the home of Nancy and Earl A. Powell III, honoring the President's Club Charter Members of the Community Counseling Service who donate $1,000 or more annually. The $28,000 raised will enable the service to continue providing affordable, quality mental health services to individuals and families. * More than $300,000 was raised at an awards dinner Jan.

It's been a busy weekend for local art society, beginning with Friday night's kickoff gala for the International Contemporary Art Fair, and continuing with Saturday's fifth anniversary celebration for the Museum of Contemporary Art. The third event of the social triptych took place Monday night, when the County Museum of Art opened the first American retrospective of the works of Guido Reni, featuring a whistle-stop appearance by the prime minister of Italy, Ciriaco De Mita.