Hilary Gibson

The late industrialist Armand Hammer engaged in a longtime extramarital affair with the woman who is now chief fund-raiser at the Westwood museum that bears his name, according to newly filed documents in a bitter lawsuit over legal title to Hammer's art collection. In 1974, the court documents state, Hammer even had the woman named curator of art of Occidental Petroleum Corp., which Hammer headed from 1957 until his death at the age of 92 last Dec.

Less than two months after the death of Armand Hammer and less than two weeks after the closing of the first exhibition at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Westwood, the museum is mired in uncertainty--over its direction and even its next show. The late chief executive of Occidental Petroleum Corp. planned the museum that bears his name as a monument to himself, a home for his art collection and a glitzy cultural attraction. The museum opened Nov.

Less than two months after the death of Armand Hammer and less than two weeks after the closing of the first exhibition at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Westwood, the museum is mired in uncertainty--over its direction and even its next show. The late chief executive of Occidental Petroleum Corp. planned the museum that bears his name as a monument to himself, a home for his art collection and a glitzy cultural attraction. The museum opened Nov.

The late industrialist Armand Hammer engaged in a longtime extramarital affair with the woman who is now chief fund-raiser at the Westwood museum that bears his name, according to newly filed documents in a bitter lawsuit over legal title to Hammer's art collection. In 1974, the court documents state, Hammer even had the woman named curator of art of Occidental Petroleum Corp., which Hammer headed from 1957 until his death at the age of 92 last Dec.

Noting that a sealed deposition in a shareholder lawsuit over the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center shows the museum intends to engage in "novel methods to seek funds" that "are likely to be controversial," a Delaware judge has rejected a petition by The Times to make the court document public.

Industrialist/philanthropist/art collector/nonagenarian Armand Hammer drew up a list of 800 friends and threw a big, splashy dinner party Sunday night to celebrate the opening of his new Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Westwood. (It opens to the public Wednesday.) Guests were greeted by a Christmas tree, a pianist at a white baby grand piano and a welcoming committee of waiters bearing flutes of Perrier-Jouet champagne.

For almost a decade, it seems, Westwood Village's problems have been as vexing as Wilshire Boulevard traffic at rush hour. First, there were the long-term leases that began to expire in the early 1980s, forcing out some tenants who could not--or would not--pay higher rents. Then came the competition from new or redesigned shopping plazas--Westside Pavilion, Century City Shopping Center and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. The recession took its toll on several Westwood merchants.

Occidental Petroleum Corp.--confirming for the first time publicly that it is the owner of $1.4 million worth of art associated with its chairman, Armand Hammer--has disclosed it has donated the works to the museum named for Hammer. In a routine filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Occidental also disclosed an additional $2.3 million it intends to commit to build the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Westwood and support Hammer's art collection.

Ensconced on the 16th floor of the Occidental Petroleum Center building in Westwood, Armand Hammer is master of all he surveys: his corporate headquarters, an art collection that he values at $400 million and a massive hole in the ground. Hammer's oil empire has brought him wealth and power, his collection has allowed him to become a self-styled cultural diplomat, but if all goes according to plan, the hole in the ground and the building above may change all that.

One day in early 1978, industrialist Armand Hammer contacted a Danish art historian and asked him to take a look at a painting--acquired in a swap of artworks with the Soviet government--that he didn't much care for and wanted to sell.