Diamond in the rough: Wynn Collection gallery moves forward in construction zone on Strip

Thu, Dec 6, 2001 (8:38 a.m.)

Through the thick walls of The Wynn Collection gallery, a faint rumbling can be heard as construction trucks haul away remnants of the Desert Inn, clearing the way for casino mogul Steve Wynn's forthcoming megaresort, Le Reve.

Tucked away on the bottom floor of the nine-story building, left standing after Wynn's Oct. 23 implosion of the Desert Inn, is the Wynn Collection a handful of art works from Wynn's massive private art collection.

The 1,316-square-foot gallery is the main attraction on the more than 200 acres of prime Strip property.

But Wynn is betting it will attract art enthusiasts and possibly spark a passion of art in local school children.

The collection owned by Wynn and his wife, Elaine, includes 13 paintings by world-renowned artists. (The number 13 has been removed as a nod to the superstitious. Instead, the exhibit concludes with "Nude on a Couch" by Amedeo Modigliani, labeled as No. 14.)

Oil paintings by Vincent van Gogh ("Peasant Woman against a Background of Wheat") and Pablo Picasso (1932's "Le Reve," for which the new hotel-casino has been named) are featured in the exhibit, as well as two pieces each by Henri Matisse ("Pineapple and Anemones" and "The Persian Robe"), Edouard Manet ("Self-Portrait" and "Portrait of Mademoiselle Suzette Lemaire, in Profile") and Paul Cezanne ("Portrait of a Woman" and "Curtain, Jug and Fruit Bowl").

Near the end of the tour hang three large portraits of Wynn by the late 20th century pop artist Andy Warhol, titled "Steve Wynn (Gold, White, Red)."

An audio tour accompanies the exhibit and includes personal asides by Wynn as he describes details of each piece.

Seth Schorr, director of the Wynn Collection, said Wynn thought the splendor of the paintings shouldn't be hidden from public view.

"He had these beautiful paintings hanging in his home," Schorr said. "I truly believe he felt bad that only a handful of people, his guests, would see these masterpieces."

In a recent press release Wynn said that no matter the value, no one owns a piece of art.

"You just have custody," Wynn said. "The pictures are bigger than we are; and we're simply the guardians."

Wynn's former Mirage Resorts hotels, including Bellagio, where Wynn first opened an art gallery in 1998, were bought by MGM Grand in 2000. Wynn owned part of the gallery's $400 million collection. He took his handful of famed art pieces from the gallery and considered his options.

"He always had the intention of having an art gallery like he did four years ago at the Bellagio," Schorr said. "It just took some time and this made sense."

Wynn bought the Desert Inn in the spring of 2000, with plans to open a hotel to rival Bellagio.

Wynn bought "Le Reve" the painting earlier last year for an undisclosed amount. Four years ago the painting sold for $44 million at a Christie's auction in New York.

The massive megaresort is scheduled to open in 2004 where the Desert Inn once stood, and will feature two 59-story hotel towers.

An art gallery will more than likely be included, Schorr said, but plans are still pending.

"We're not quite sure," Schorr said. "It's a nice property. We have no plans, but we might possibly use it for a boutique hotel."

The remnants of the Desert Inn's marble lobby and gift-shop corridor were preserved specifically for the gallery space, Schorr said. The upper levels of the building are reserved for the more than 200 employees of Wynn Resorts.

"It's nice and intimate," Schorr said of the gallery space. "It fit quite well."

Renoir rising

Wynn oversaw each step of the design of the gallery space -- from the the Gaugin ashtray for sale in the gift shop to the positioning and hanging of each painting, Schorr said.

The deep velvet-red hues of the gallery create a rich background for the colorful paintings.

Foam-core replicas of each painting were made so Wynn could consider where each original painting should hang in relation to each other and the room.

One week before the gallery opened on Nov. 14 Wynn bought "Camille a l'Ombrelle Verte," painted by Claude Monet in 1876. He rearranged the exhibit to include the new masterpiece.

"He can do that," Schorr said. "It makes it fun. You don't know when it might change."

The paintings will continue to be rotated as the whims strike Wynn.

"He could buy a new painting next week and put it up, we don't know," Schorr said.

The fact that the masterpieces are housed in a small gallery on a vast construction site was deeply discussed, Schorr said.

"It's a problem," Schorr said. "Besides the fact that we are in a construction zone, we haven't pursued a major marketing campaign yet, and probably won't until after the first of the year."

To attract art enthusiasts and halt any confusion that the property sits empty, Schorr said signs will be placed around the property in an attempt to advertise the collection.

Eventually Wynn plans to incorporate a visitor center close to the gallery detailing the construction of Le Reve.

"That will give people a reason to come in and take a look and also look at the gallery," Schorr said.

Until then the only advertising for the gallery is the lone 6-foot-tall Wynn Collection marquee that faces the Strip, Schorr said.

"That seems to be working," Schorr said.

Pai Gow to Picasso

But can a lone upscale gallery on the Strip, blocks from any other attraction, garner the attention of tourists?

It seems so.

More than 70 people pay to peruse the paintings daily, according to a Wynn spokesperson.

On a recent weekday morning, Californian Brain Anker took time out of his annual pleasure trip to Las Vegas to take in the Wynn Collection.

From the neon-lit view of his room at the Stardust Anker saw the modest electric sign touting the gallery.

"I thought I'd take a break from gambling and check this out," Anker said. "I wish there was more. I usually just come to gamble. But these seemed like something you don't see every day."

Rudy and Elizabeth Montemayor have been traveling to Las Vegas every month for the past 27 years from their home in Mission, Texas.

On their recent trip they put off their usual morning games of blackjack to wander through Wynn's gallery.

"It's nice to see culture in the center of this adult play world," Rudy Montemayor said.

Elizabeth Montemayor said the building was very inviting despite the fact that it's under construction.

"We'll go gamble now that we've seen this beautiful exhibit, but we couldn't not see it," she said.

Traveling with them was Montemayor's sister, Gloria Wheat, and her husband, Curtis Wheat, also from Mission. The Wheats said that the exhibit was well worth the walk along the Strip to the gallery.

"Las Vegas has a bit of everything, so having art is part of the adult-Disneyland experience," Curtis Wheat said.

"It's nice to see culture here more so than we had in the past," Gloria Wheat said. "And this is much more well organized and intimate than something like the Louvre (museum in Paris)."

New Yorkers Laurel Rinaldi Rudolph and Donna Frind noticed the sign advertising the collection while driving on the Strip.

"We were very excited. It's very impressive," Frind said. "You see Gaugin, Picasso (listed) on the sign and they are all here in this little building."

"I would go anywhere to look at paintings," Rudolph said. "No matter what city I'm traveling to, I check out where the art is."

The added bonus of the audio tour narrated by Wynn gave the collection a personal touch, Rudolph said.

"He (Wynn) knows what he's talking about," she said. "He shared the most important things to him and about the painting (style) in the audio tour."

Frind was equally impressed."It's amazing to see all of these (paintings) in one place, and you can really get to look at them," she said. "It's art history in there."

Art school

One of the first issues that the Wynns discussed while creating the gallery was how to include local schoolchildren in the experience, Schorr said.

Candy Schneider, director of the Clark County School District Partnership Foundation, said that the Wynns approached the school district when they opened the Bellagio Fine Art Gallery in 1998.

"They've always wanted children to be able to learn from the paintings they display," Schneider said. "They made it very easy for us to bring in (students)."

The Wynns created a program with the Clark County School District to allow school groups on guided tours of the gallery.

"Through this arts education partnership, we seek to advocate the importance of art in our schools and community," Elaine Wynn said recently in a press release. "Appreciation of the fine arts is at the very core of our ability to see and value different perspectives in life. We hope to contribute stimulating learning experiences that develop lifelong esteem for creativity."

On a recent weekday morning two eighth graders from Cashman Middle School -- Paulina Guzman and Diborah Berhanu -- toured the gallery with their art class.

The friends had not been to an art gallery or museum before, they said. After an hourlong lesson about the artists in the exhibit, the two girls leaned back and exchanged thoughts on Picasso's "Le Reve."

"You see the color that he used? And he drew the woman from his imagination, what he thought of her," Paulina said.

"I see the color, it's pretty," Diborah said.

"He (Picasso) drew her the way he saw her," Paulina said. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, but her head is still cut in half," Diborah said.

The exhibit opened their minds to art in a way that they had not experienced before, Paulina said.

"I expected to see some pretty art," she said. "But I never expected I'd get to stand so close and tell how they painted (each piece)."

As the class filed out of the gallery Antoinette Durr, a sixth grader at Cashman, lingered over Matisse's "Persian Robe."

"I like all those colors in the background," Antoinette said. "I didn't expect it to be so beautiful."

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